


72 Degrees Too Cold

by mizufallsfromkumo



Category: Common Law
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Mind Games, Murder, One-Sided Attraction, Original Character(s), Serial Killers, serial killer!Wes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 23:37:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1204729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizufallsfromkumo/pseuds/mizufallsfromkumo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The 72 Degrees Killer is one of LA's most famous and illusive criminals to date. Detective Travis Mark has been chasing after the killer for seven years with no luck in figuring out who he's chasing. But when the murder of Julia Lakeson doesn't match the MO of 72 Degrees, Travis finds himself coming face to face with the dark and mysterious killer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So benadrylisthegoodstuff sort of gave me the push to post this here on AO3. 
> 
> I wrote this a little over a year ago, and posted it on FFN, and since I got an AO3 account I've been debating posting it here so it is in two places or keeping it on FFN. However I have time right now while I wait for some food to cook so why not. I hope the new fan or fans who stalk this sight only find this story interesting. It was kind of a bit hit back with I first published it. 
> 
> Basically Wes didn't quiet law and become a cop, he took a different route which will be explained later.
> 
> Serial Killer!Wes has a soft spot in my heart.

Matthew Williams was a success story.  His import/export company grew in a flash, stocks shooting through the roof, even in the drowning economy.  With a degree in business and background in working the docks, Williams could cater to the needs of people effectively.    He just knew how to run a good business, and though his rise to success had raised some eyebrows, nothing was very found to prove there was anything shady.

Travis Marks hadn’t always bought it.  Matthew was young, slightly too young to be successful, but then again some people just get lucky.   Yet looking at his dead body on a broken catering lay out and a small pool of blood growing a bit beneath it, Travis was being to think there was way more to Matthew.  The knife between Matthews brown dead eyes, not to mention the two in his chest, and the slight chill in the air just confirmed it.  It was clear the impact didn’t kill Matthew Williams, a specific someone did.  So much for a nice night out for a charity event.

A sound above Travis caused him to look up from the body and towards the ceiling.  His blue eyes meet the sight of his partner, Phil Kronish leaning over the railing of the third floor.  Phil beamed at him, before giving him a thumbs up, a silent sign to Travis they he found where it all went down.

“Temperature?”  Travis asked, even though he could already feel it in the air.  He only has seven years of experience of walking into murder scenes with a temperature like this.

“Seventy-two, just like curator said.”  Phil said with a bit of a laugh, but Travis knew he felt it too.  “Down there?”

“Same.”  Travis said simply.

Both Phil and him nodded at each other, simply because they don’t want the possibility of someone overhearing them and causing a panic in the next large room over, but it’s their guy.  The basic MO is the same.  Seventy-two degrees and stab wounds.  It was the infamous 72 Degrees Killer, who had killed a little over thirty people in the last seven years.  It might be more, but Travis lost count after twenty.  If word got out that he was once in the building, or possibly still in, it would cause panic.

“Think anyone saw something?”  Phil asked with hopefulness in his voice.

Travis had a feeling that no one saw anything, because no one _ever_ saw anything when it came to the 72 Degrees Killer.  However, none of his killings had even been this public.  He’s never killed someone in front of hundreds of possible witness, usually it was something smaller, or no one at all.  Criminal Psychology told him that he was either attention deprived or trying to make a statement.

“There’s only one way to find out.”   Travis said, nudging his head in the direction of the room filled with the guests and staff. 

Phil made a sound of frustration, but he was gone when Travis turned back to look at him.  Travis grinned to himself, before turning and heading to the yellow tape.  He ducked under the tape.  A young uniform came hurrying over him and directing a group of people she found to possibly have some useful information.  Travis gave her a sweet smile before he headed over to the group of people who were chattering lightly with each other and didn’t seem to be fully enjoying themselves. 

Travis quickly got to questioning them about anything they saw or noticed.  Nothing useful came up.  Someone saw Matthew entering the depths of the museum with a man, but there was no detailed description with it.  Another saw a man peeking over the railing, but again nothing of detail.  The others were the same, just the figure or a blonde flash of hair, no facial details.  Travis thanked them for the help, before he felt Phil nudge him.

They silently agreed to divide and concur the crowd with the help of two uniforms as well.  Questioning everyone in the room in case anything came up, but as usual nothing useful stirred.   It was always like this, but Travis never felt like turning in too soon.  He had been chasing this bastard for seven years, and it was beginning to become annoying as well.  He wrapped up his talk with an older couple, giving them a nice smile before he left out a sigh.

“It must annoy you that no one ever sees my face.”  A voice suddenly said behind him and Travis’ blood ran cold.  “Am I right, Detective Marks?”

He whipped around to see who was behind him, his hand reaching for his gun.  However there is no one behind him, or at least no one close enough to say what he heard without anyone hearing them.  People are shuffling around restlessly; a few people looked at him oddly; however 72 Degrees isn’t there.  Or maybe he was and Travis didn’t know.  The psycho could be right in front of him but couldn’t point out whom.

Grumbling he relaxed his stance.  They don’t need a panic, but Travis isn’t sure the price of letting the bastard slip away is enough.  Phil caught his eye from across the room.  Travis signaled for them to wrap it up.


	2. Chapter 1

“Cap, you can’t seriously be dumping another case on us?”  Travis asked a bit angrily as he started after Captain Mike Sutton.  Phil was close behind echoing close to whatever Travis was saying.  “We’re only a week into this case; you can’t dump another case on us now.” 

Sutton rounded into his office, dropping a folder on his desk as the two detectives come rushing in after them.  Both Travis and Phil were bouncing off facts of the case and how they were only half way into Williams’ smuggling business.  Not to mention the fact that knifes were most likely custom made, which meant a name and a face to 72 Degrees if they could find out where they were made.  Not to mention the fact that the man had to learn how to throw them with accuracy from someone, the question was just who.  Sutton seemed to be letting them let it out for a brief moment before he held up his hand to silence the two of them.

“Kate and Amy were originally on it till they saw the scene.”  Sutton said with a huff.  Travis raised an eyebrow at the statement, slightly curious as to where in the world this was going.  “Julia Lakeson was found murdered in her apartment this morning.  Stabbed in the back a couple times.  Her thermometer read 72 degrees.”

Travis turned to Phil, who was giving him a look.  This was new, just like the knives.  The 72 Degrees Killer killed periodically throughout the year.  The shortest period of when he killed someone was about three weeks and that was simply within the first year of his existence, and it had only been gang members.  He didn’t kill and then kill again a few days later like some serial killers.  Could the two have been in on something together and it ended up getting both of them killed?

“They think it’s 72 Degrees?”  Phil asked even though they all knew the answer.

Sutton nodded, “Kate said the stab wounds were very similar to that of some previous victims.  Besides the MO fits.”

Travis made a sound.  “We’ll look at the scene and decide for ourselves if it is.”  Travis said getting a nod from Sutton before he waved them away.    “You really think he struck again?”

“He’s already surprised us with the knives and public place.”  Phil said hurrying to his desk and grabbing his car keys.  With a bit of a grin they headed for the door and the crime scene.

\----  -----  ----

The crime scene in Julia Lakeson’s apartment wasn’t anything like Matthew Williams’.  It was small, enclosed, and most of all private, they only person they had to talk to was the neighbor who found her.  There were also no knifes sticking out of her.  Some elements were the same however, like the air being set at 72 degrees, and the stab wounds, the basics of 72 Degrees ways.   She most likely had some skeletons in her closet as well, but that would come up later in the investigation.

Her apartment was bit trashed, some things knocked off a shelf, glass lying on the floor.  It wasn’t clear why to him, usually the scenes were rather clean; nothing was touched or destroyed just a dead body.   The darker detective didn’t think anything of it for the most part; 72 Degrees had been throwing new things at them constantly.  It made his MO difficult to pin point beside a few key factors.  The window to her fire escape was open, so their point of entry was clear.  Travis was already started to piece together bits and pieces as he carefully walked around the scene looking it over.  72 Degrees came through the window and snuck up behind her.

Her body hadn’t been moved, the ME held off moving her the moment they heard Travis and Phil were on their way.  Travis squatted next to the body that was face down with the stab wounds in her back.     She was a pretty woman, red hair in lazy curls, and from what Travis could see she wasn’t very curvy, but she was still gorgeous.

“Neighbor found her about two hours ago.  He noticed her paper was still outside her door and figured she picked up another shift at her job, and hadn’t come home.  He had a spare key for when she does things like that and when he entered he found her like this.”  Kate explained and Travis squatted down beside the body to look at it closer.  “ME has time of death somewhere between 11:30 and 1 am.”

Travis lifted her arm, looking it over careful noting the bruising on them.  Carefully he put her arm back down and moved some of her red hair to look at her face.  Her dead eyes don’t bother him as much as feels they should, but he’s seen death so many times it’s just another expression to him.  He sighed before straightening up.

“Looks like our guys doing.”  Travis said, before turning to Kate who was hanging just at a distance watching him closely.  “Despite some irregularities.”

“Like what?”  Kate asked folding her arms. 

“The bruising on her arm suggests she possibly fought back, 72 don’t exactly play with his food.”  Travis said starting to peel of his gloves.  “Not to mention the bruising on her neck, I’ve never seen that before from him.”

“Neighbor said her boyfriend and her got in a fight last night, the loud kind of fighting.”  Kate said, a look of disgust on her face.  “Maybe the bruise was from that.”

“If not, 72 is just showing off his wide array of killing skills for us.”  Phil said as he entered the room form the hallway.  “Some people are just full of surprises.”

Kate gave Phil a sharp glare at the statement, which in turned caused Travis to chuckle as well.  To his luck, Kate took it as him laughing at Phil getting glared at, and Phil took it as him laughing at his joke.  After about seven years of chasing after the bastard, Travis had hoped 72 Degrees would have displayed all of his tricks.  Phil’s joke was slightly funny, Travis had to admit.

“Anything from the window?”  Travis asked.”

“Just the usual nothing we find with 72 Degrees.”  Phil said with a sigh.  “What you thinking about all of this?”

Travis was quiet for a moment, looking down at Julia’s body, then around her slightly messy apartment.  The fight with the boyfriend might explain some of the mess, but it didn’t cover the odd bruising.   He sighed, he hated to admit it, but 72 didn’t just kill her at random.

“I’m thinking she was in on something with Matthew.”  Travis said looking up at Phil who just nodded in agreement.  “Kate, can you and Amy find out who Julia’s boyfriend is and see if you can find out if she was knew Matthew Williams?”  Travis asked turning to Kate who just nodded.  “See if she was up to anything that was unexplainable.   You know where Julia worked?”

“The neighbor mentions she worked as a waitress at some sort of diner/restaurant, he didn’t know how to describe it.  Said it was called _Flashback_ or something like that.”  Kate said with a bit of a shrug. 

“Alright,” Travis said.  “Phil and I will see if we can find where she actually worked and ask around there see if we can find anything interesting there.”

Kate gave one last solid nod before she turned and headed over to Amy who was still talking with the neighbor.  Travis scratched his head in though as Phil motioned for the ME to take the body and take it away. 

“You really think she was involved with Williams?”  Phil asked as he watched the MEs move the body carefully into a body bag.

“I don’t think 72 Degrees would kill at random.”  Travis said.

Phil made a sound behind him.  “We better get started on figuring the whole thing out.”   Phil said patting him on the shoulder harshly.  He smiled, “besides this place is a mess, maybe he missed something for once, and we’ll get a lead.”

“Don’t get my hopes up.”  Travis said with a smile as he followed after Phil.


	3. Chapter 2

A week into the investigation of Julia’s murder and two weeks into Matthew’s, there is still absolutely nothing.  More nothing that Travis would like to admit there was.

Travis was use to finding nothing that would lead them to 72 Degrees in any way shape or form.  Even though forensics had managed to find some cloth fibers embedded in Julia’s neck.  However, as far as they could tell it was probably from a cloth sweater anyone could get a department store.  Nothing that limited 72 Degrees Killer’s identity to a smaller pool of suspect.   They still had to find how Julia was possibly linked with Matthew in a way that got her murdered. 

Matthew’s murder investigation was forming like all of the other of 72 Degrees’ victims.  Williams had been rising with the help of the fact that he was smuggling drugs, weapons, and people into LA.  The media ate that story up the moment they found that out, as well as every competitor Matthew had.  The story of the young successful upstart just became more and more dark with each passing day, and his family was not exactly proud about that.  That usually happened, though.  However Julia’s story wasn’t forming in the same manner.

Julia’s manager at _The Flashback Diner_ had said that Julia was a sweet girl.  Getting herself off the ground as an artist.  The only thing odd that had happened in the last few months was that she requested a lighter work load and more daytime shifts.  However, it later became clear that Julia was working on a piece that was more time consuming then she had originally planned, and she wanted to spend more time with her boyfriend, as well.  Her boyfriend, William Johnson, or Willy as she called him, seemed like a decent guy.  He admitted that they had a disagreement, but he left at around 11:30 and Julia was still alive.  No one in Julia’s family had heard of Matthew Williams outside of the news.  Jonelle also confirmed that Julia was strangled to death and the most of the stab wounds and cuts were made post-mortem.   More importantly nothing that was similar to previous victims,

Phil and Travis couldn’t find anything they could possibly connect them.  No unexplained phone numbers or blocked numbers on Julia’s phone records. No random texts.  Not a single email between the two.  Not a single place they could have run into each other.  As far as that told Travis the two had never even crossed paths, which meant there was a large possibility that the two had no connection.

“I’m telling you man, 72 is a smart guy, it’s a test.”  Phil said as they entered the elevator after another late nights work.   “Or maybe Julia was really good and what she did.  All we got to do is keep looking.”

Travis was getting tired of looking and Julia’s family was getting more and more impatient with them as they keep digging. 

“It’s just we usually have something by now.”  Travis said with a shrug.

“You’re not thinking, Julia was innocent do you?”  Phil asked turning sharply to Travis.

“No, 72 has proven he doesn’t go after innocent people.”  Travis said with a shake of his head.  A couple spouses and children had walked in on the scene while 72 was there.  However the man hadn’t touched them, just vanished in the blink of an eye it seemed, leaving them more traumatized than actually harmed.  “Still even if Julia was a good criminal something would have turned up by now.”

The elevator dinged on the ground floor and the doors slide open.  Phil walked out of the elevator with a huff, Travis beside him.  “Don’t worry man, we’ll find something and blow this fucking case open.  There still that shit load evidence that forensics has yet to go through.”  Phil grinned at him but Travis knew it was likely there wouldn’t be nothing helpful there as well.

“Whatever Phil,” Travis said nudging the lighter man with his elbow.  “See you tomorrow.” 

With wave Phil jogged to his car while Travis slid onto his motorcycle.  He quickly fired it up and headed towards his apartment.  Home sounds like the best thing at the moment.  He could finally relax and let 72 Degrees slip his mind, maybe watch some late night television and unwind from a long day for uncovering nothing. 

To his luck there was next to no traffic and Travis was home in a matter of fifteen minutes.  He parked his bike and hurried up to his apartment.  He singled out his apartment key from the others and went to unlock his door when he heard it.  A sound of something metal meeting his kitchen floor.  He carefully and silently opened his door.  Instantly reaching for his gun as he pushed through the doorway soundlessly.

Whatever clattered seemed to be coming to rest on the floor as he eased up against the hallway of his entry way.  There was a solid thump on the counter.  He checked his magazine before he cocked his gun.  “I work for the LAPD!”  He called into his apartment, which is dead silent.  “Put your hands up and don’t move.”  He said as he carefully came out from the hallway.

He let out a yelp, a manly one at that, as a knife flew past him, sending him back into the hallway again.  He stared at the knife, noticing it was on his kitchen ones.  There was the sound of footsteps across his apartment, and he whipped around to see a black figure fly out a window, one that realized was open.  He cursed, racing after them, sticking his head out the window and trying to hear the sound of someone running down the fire escape.  There was nothing and he cursed again.

Flicking the safety back on his gun and shoving it back into the holster, he turned around to look at his apartment.  From what he could tell, nothing was missing.  If anything there was more things out of place.  His cutting board was out on the counter, a knife sticking out of it and there was a metal bowl on the floor of his kitchen.  And he couldn’t forget the knife embedded in his wall.  Travis sighed and walked over to the kitchen to pick up the bowl, when he noticed the stabbed note on his cutting board.  He moved the cutting board to read it better. 

 _I didn’t kill Julia Lakeson._   - _72 Degrees  P.S. Don’t try looking for any possible evidence, I wiped down the place._

Travis blood ran cold as he stated at the small note.  “Fuck,” was all he could manage before he stumbled back towards the other side of the counter.

\----  ----  ----

“What if Julia’s murder was a copy-cat murder?”  Travis asked when Phil returned to his desk after getting what was most likely his second cup of coffee for the day.

Phil just gave him an odd look for a moment.  He took a sip of his coffee before he even seemed to think about answering Travis.  Travis watched as he placed his cup down before he sat down himself.  “Where is this coming from?”  Phil asked in an almost annoyingly gentle tone.

“The 72 Degrees Killer as a very loss MO, it’s would be easy to copy, he’s range of killings is wide.”  Travis said leaning back in his chair. 

“Are you suggesting there have been other people who copied what him?”  Phil asked with a bored expression.

Travis rolled his eyes.  “God, no Phil.”  Travis exclaimed slightly.  “Besides if that happened before I’m pretty sure 72 would have handled in his own way, if you know what I mean.”  Travis said, and he had a feeling that was true.  The whole note ordeal at his apartment last night told him that 72 Degrees was not fond of having murders he didn’t commit placed on him.  Seeing as how nothing had surfaced about anything that would make Julia even a possible target for the man, Travis was beginning to think the note was telling the truth.

“So Degrees’ way of killing is easy to copy, that doesn’t mean someone just randomly killed Julia with his method.”  Phil said with a firm look. 

“Phil, it would open so many more door then what we have right now.”  Travis said almost springing out of his chair as he leaned forward.  “You and I both know 72 like the back of our hands; you know he doesn’t usually strangle his victims to death.”

“That doesn’t mean that he can’t do it.”

“Seven years of running around and stabbing people and then he decides to just suddenly strangling Julia is a good idea.  If that was the case why would he even bother with the stabbing her post-mortem.”  Travis snapped.

Phil gave him a long look.  Travis can tell that the man is going to stick by what he believed in.  Phil was stubborn like that.  If he thought it was going to be a certain way, it was going to be a certain way until it was proven to him otherwise.  Travis had caught a break with the Gentleman Killer five years ago, and was finally able to convince Phil that he was the guy.

“I’m telling you man, we just have to keep looking, something will come up.”  Phil said.

Travis let out a heavy sigh.  “And I’m tell you the least we could do is look at Julia’s murder like it was just another murder.”

Phil gave him a sharp look.  “Fine you can do that, I’ll continue looking into Matthew’s and Julia’s murder as one then.” 

“Fine.”  Travis said getting up from his desk.

“Where are you going?”  Phil asked him with an annoyed tone.

“To go question some people.”  Travis said as he grabbed his jacket roughly.


	4. Chapter 3

As much as Travis hated to admit it, he had lost valuable time on Julia’s murder, and he knew he wasn’t helping he family move on in their lives by redirecting his investigation.  However, despite Julia’s brother being a bit snippy with Travis, to be fair though Phil and him had attempted to drag Julia’s name in the mud along with Matthew’s, her immediate family was opening to the questioning.

Her mother was relieved when Travis admitted that Julia’s case wasn’t forming in the usual way The 72 Degrees Killer’s cases usually did.  Besides, there was no point in leaving any rock unturned.   She happily told him she couldn’t think of anyone who would want Julia died, but there had been some conflicts at some gallery events.  People being desperate for an opportunity, there was some possible motive there, a bit extreme for a job, but desperate people do desperate things.  Travis had seen people killed over smaller things.  Travis jotted down the name of the gallery and made a note to contact the gallery to see who would be gaining anything by Julia’s death.

Julia’s father clearly didn’t like her boyfriend, Willy.  The two had been on and off for a while.  Her father had gotten more than enough sobbing phone calls from his daughter to actually make the man just hate the other.  Her brother wasn’t fond of Willy either, but somehow Julia was the happiest she had ever been with anyone.   Besides as far as they knew, William was never abusive, he just wasn’t very intelligent when it came to relationships.  Travis wrote down that bit of information, and ended the questioning.

William, or Willy as he seemed to be called, admitted that he wasn’t the best at their relationship and he had fiddled around with other women, but had honestly been working on it.  He also admitted Julia and him had fought on the night of her murder, the loud yelling and throwing of some things.  Everything Travis remembered reading in the neighbor’s statement.  He left when Julia was alive and well.  He slipped something in about the art gallery and the conflicts there, particularly a male artist.  It was safe to say that Travis was not very fond of the guy either.

\----  ----  ----

Cassandra Tailer owned the gallery where there had been some conflicts.   She didn’t mind Travis bargaining into her gallery and flashing his badge around.  She toured him around her gallery a bit saying she was open to any questions Travis had for her, police or art related.  Travis just stared asking.

“I won’t lie, but Julia did have some issues here.”  Tailer said as she led Travis up some stairs.  “Not with me, but some of the other artists.”

“So I’ve heard.”  Travis said trotting after her up the stairs.  “Could you elaborate?”

“How do I put this?”  Tailer said thoughtfully when she reached the top of the stairs.  “Julia never did anything mind you, I see some people are still linking her with that trafficking fellow, but it was more so the other artists had a problem with her.”  Tailer paused for a moment.  “Particularly Laurel Kramer.”

“What was the problem between the two?”

“Laurel’s time at the gallery is coming to a close and she doesn’t exactly want to leave.  She wanted Julia out of the gallery, dabbling in a bit in messing with her.  You know sending texts with wrong times and dates.”  Tailer said shaking her head.  “I threw that girl’s ass out the moment I found out.”

“Would Laurel gain anything from Julia’s death?”

“Nope.”  Tailer said.  “The only people who would gain anything would really would be the fifty some artists who want to get into the gallery.  Now I have two vacant spots now that Julia’s work will only be shown briefly.”   She smiled for a moment.  “I have a list in my office if you would like it.”

“Thank you.”  Travis said not extremely happy that he had to look into fifty people for someone who might have thought about killing Julia.  “Her boyfriend mention there was a conflict with a man.  Did you know about that?”

“Don’t mention it.”  Tailer said with a smooth smile again.  “There was something with David Gomez.  He liked her a bit too much, but nothing happened, or at least nothing she told me about.”

“Could I have his contact information as well?”  Travis asked.

Tailer nodded and led the way passed another room that Travis can’t help but peek into.  He heard Tailer chuckle beside him.  “It’s David’s work, it’s not open to the public yet, he’s still putting it all together.”  Tailer said, and Travis can tell by her voice that she’s watching his face closely.  “His been working hard on it, lots of research.”

“You don’t say.”  Travis said with a wide grin.  He can’t help but feel like he got just broke this case in two.  “Can you get me that information now; I need to make a call.”

\----  ----  ----

Travis wouldn’t get a warrant for David Gomez’s arrest till late in the evening, and he knew he wouldn’t want to act on it till morning.  As much as he wanted to arrest the bastard and get the whole thing over with so he could just rub the whole thing in Phil’s face, it didn’t seem ultimately fair to David.  On the slim chance, and it was very, very slim, that he wasn’t responsible Travis would probably spend the whole night questioning the man, and Travis was fond of sleeping. 

There wasn’t much he could do till then attempt to build a case as much as he could.  He’d run David’s name through the system see if there were any piers, maybe run some of the fifty some other artists wanting to get into Tailer’s gallery.  Maybe he would attempt to make it seem like nothing useful had turned up, or maybe he would just gloat that he caught a break in the case. 

First, however, he grabbed something to eat.  He swung by a sandwich place that was in between the station and the gallery, ordering something random and boarder line healthy for him.  Plopping down in on the outside tables, he got to work, causally flipping through the contact information he had been given to him.  He hummed a bit to himself, getting lost in the work as he waited for his meal to be done being made.

“Excuse me, are you Detective Marks?”  A voice asked to his left, knocking Travis out of his thinking. 

For a brief second he didn’t know what to make of what happened, blinking as he tried to think of all the reasons someone would know his name.  There were a lot of reasons, Travis won’t lie about that, but no one really called him Detective Marks.  He turned to see who the owner of the voice was.  His blue eyes found a blonde haired man about his height with a leaner build, that or the man needed to visit one of Travis’ foster mothers.  He was wearing khaki slacks and a medium blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the top two buttons undone.  Clothes that seemed to do nothing but compliment his physic. The man’s face had some hard features to it, but the confused and slightly freaked out look on his face made him look cute.  Cute as in a small lost animal.

Travis stared at him for a moment, trying to think of someone who the man might be.  Had they meet before?  The man however took Travis’ staring as the fact that he had the wrong person.  “Sorry,” the man apologized, Travis can’t help but pick up on the nervousness in the man’s tone.  “There was this guy, and he gave me this note and said I had to give it to a Detective Marks.  He pointed in this direction and said something about a leather jacket.  I just assumed…”  Travis can’t help but find the man’s babbling kind of adorable, even if it was clear the man was freaked out beyond belief.

“Relax man, there’s no need to apologize if you’ve got the right guy.”  Travis said with a charming grin, enjoying the confusion on the man’s face.  “Sorry, I’m not use to random strangers calling me Detective.” 

“So you thought staring was a good idea?”  The man asked with a bit of attitude.  Travis got a small kick out the fact that the man actually swung his hip out. 

“I did just apologize, correct?”  Travis asked with a teasing grin, the man just glared.  “You said someone gave you a note?”

“Well more like tiny envelope,” the man said flashing a small little white envelope.  “They were right over there…”  He turned using the thing to point, but trailed off when he didn’t seem to find who gave it to them.  He turned back, dazed almost, handing Travis the little envelope.  “I could have sworn he was right over there a second ago.”

Travis looked it over, the familiar handwriting that spelled out his name sending chills down his spine.  He still can’t shake the close encounter he had with 72 Degrees a few days ago.  “Did you get a good look at who gave this too you?”  Travis asked.

“No, not really, why?”  The man admitted confused.

“Just wondering.”  Travis said with a shrug, he doesn’t want the man to know he just have a run in with one of the worst serial killers LA had ever come to know.   He glanced at the envelope quickly before looking up to see the man making his departure.  “Wait a second.”  The man froze like Travis just pulled his gun on him.  “I don’t get a name?”

The man looked at him like he was crazy but Travis just raised an eyebrow.  The man huffed a bit.  “Wes, and that’s all you’re getting.”  The man, or Wes, turned and started walking away like he was annoyed before he stopped and backtracked for a second.  “Oh, he also said it wasn’t the artist, whatever the means.”


	5. Chapter 4

Travis hid the note in the drawer of his desk, refusing to open it unless push came to shove.  He had a feeling that was going to happen.  He sent a patrol to pick up David Gomez, and he should be cleared for questioning within in the hour.  Travis would admit he was giddy, not even 72 Degrees’ message could bring him down.  He might have actually skipped into work if he didn’t actually think about the fact that he wanted to surprise Phil with the fact that he actually had someone in custody.  However it didn’t stop the fact that every time he opened the drawer, the envelope would somehow wiggle out from under lose paper and post-it notes, just taunting him.

Two uniforms paraded Gomez through the doors, handcuffed and pleasantly looking confused.  Travis grinned and signaled them to put him in the box for questioning.  When he turned back to Phil he smirked at the look on Phil’s face. 

“Who is that?”  Phil asked in a horribly hidden annoyed tone.

“Oh, that’s David Gomez, the lead suspect in Julia’s murder” Travis said easily with a bit of a shrug. 

“Really,” Phil said with a bit of dread in his voice, causing Travis’s smile to widen.  “Well…I think I should tell you that I have a lead on a link between them.”

Travis just raised an eyebrow at Phil, a silent sort of challenge to Phil.  Phil just gave him a sharp look before he grabbed his keys.  He muttered a quick “you’re on” before he stormed out the door.  Travis just grinned, because he knew he was going to win this.

\----  ----  ----

Gomez didn’t look like a killer.  He scrawny didn’t even look like he could lift anything heavy to save his life.  He seemed to be in for the nerd look, with glasses that seemed a bit too big for his face but the officers took him out of his house.  He even looked like he would hiss at the sun if he was exposed to long.    But in Travis years of experience, he came to understand that anyone could be a killer.  Even internet addicted looking artist boy.

David seemed rather confused to be in the box for questioning but he wasn’t demanding a lawyer or anything.  Just sort of sat there and tapped his fingers on the table as he glanced around.  Travis takes the gestures to be a translation of the fact that he’s nervous, usually everyone who came in there were nervous unless they had been in before.  He lingered a few minutes behind the glass, entering just after a uniform gave David a small cup of coffee.

Travis can’t help but smile when David straightened up when Travis entered the room.  He tossed the case folder on the table before he plopped down in the seat across from David.  “Mr. Gomez, do you know why you’re here this lovely morning?”  Travis asked in a bit of a friendly matter.

“Not really, the officers said something but I was half asleep and didn’t catch it.”  David said with a bit of a yawn as he reached for his coffee.  “I only got like four hours of sleep, man.”

Travis just made a sound, before he opened the folder.  “You knew Julia Lakeson correct?”  Travis said.   David just nodded in reply.  “Now, from what I’ve come to understand you were quiet fond of Julia.”

“Didn’t everyone like her?”  David questioned like it was an obvious fact.  “I mean, sure some people weren’t happy she got into the gallery because it meant their time was coming to a close, but everyone liked her personality.”  David had a fond sort of smile ghost over his lips.  “Even though I didn’t know her super long, she was a good friend.”

“But you wanted to be more than friends, right?”

David looked at Travis for a second like he was thinking.  “I won’t lie I was attracted to her.”  David said with a shrug, before leaning back in his chair a bit.  “But, she made it clear she was with someone, even though the guy was a bit of massive jerk.”

Travis watched David for a second, noting the way his fingers curved around his cup of coffee and the slight aggression in his voice when he mentioned Julia’s boyfriend.  “Is that why you killed her?”  He asked simply.

David choked on his coffee, spitting it out, thankfully, to the side of him and away from Travis and the folder.  “ _WHAT!?_ ”  David snapped as he whipped around to look at Travis horrified.  “Why would I murder Julia?!”

“I don’t know, she rejected you for a ‘jerk’, as you so kindly put it.”  Travis said, before he leaned in a bit closer to David.  “I’ve seen people kill for a lot less than that.”  Travis said lowly.

“I thought she was killed the 72 Degrees killer.”  David said like he was grasping at straws.

“And I bet you loved that.  See, I thought the same thing for a while, but then her case wasn’t building up like the rest of the man’s cases, and I started to think maybe it was a copy-cat.”  Travis said, happy his new idea on the case hadn’t been linked to the press.  After all sometimes it was a good idea to have the copy-cat still thinking they got away with the murder.  “Then I stumble upon you, and it just sort of makes since.  You know his MO is lose, it’s easy to slip a murder in there.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re exhibit, David.  It’s practically a shrine to 72 Degrees.”  Travis said, knowing he had David now. 

“It’s art, and I’m just trying to question if what he does is good or not.”  David defended harshly.

“He _kills_ people, David.”  Travis growled out, after seven years of chasing after the killer, Travis was at least positive on the fact that killing people was not right.  “The man is a psychopath, and for all I know you are a little bit too.  Don’t pull any meaningful art shit on me.”

“I have an alibi though!”  David shouted almost in hysterics.  “I told the other detective and he said he would find me if it was a lie, but I never heard from him again.”

Travis was about to blurt about the likelihood that David’s alibi wouldn’t be something solid, something like he was alone in the studio or at home, or hanging out with friends.  Something easy that any good pal would say he was there with him if he asked.  However David’s last sentence struck him like a cold bucket of water.

 “Wait, other detective?”  He asked.  David seemed confused by his statement and his aggression seemed to vanish.  “Did you ever see this other detective?”

“No, he called me on the phone.”

A silence washed over them and Travis got up from his seat and paced a bit.  “That son of a bitch.”

“What’s going on?”  David asked confused. 

“Nothing,” Travis said hurriedly, before letting out a heavy sigh.  “What’s your alibi?” 

\----  ----  ---

Travis wasn’t the least bit surprised when David’s alibi checked out.  It had actually sounded solid when he told it to Travis.  He had stayed in the art studio, which had cameras, till around 1:30 in the morning, before taking a cab home and paying with a credit card.   Still, Travis hated being wrong with such a largely possible suspect.  At least to his luck, David was released before Phil returned, so Travis felt like he could deal with Phil’s gloating in a controlled manner. 

However, it didn’t stop the fact that the letter from 72 Degrees’ was now currently laughing at him from his drawer.  He looked into some of the other artists before he left for lunch.  He took the letter with him, grumbling to himself as he opened it about how it was a horrible idea.  Yet, with Julia’s case going nowhere and wanting to know more and more about Julia’s case, Travis didn’t feel like he have a choice. 

The flowing handwriting was on the paper inside, and Travis still can’t get over the fact that one person he can never catch is teasing him by being so close.  That and he doesn’t know what scares him more, the fact that 72 Degrees knows where he lives, or the fact that he knows just about everything that is happening on this case.  It just means 72 is closer than he ever thought.  Travis shook the thoughts form his head as he scanned the letter.

_I warned you it wasn’t going to be the artist, Detective Marks.  Yes, I already figured you would ignore my input, I know you just as well as you know me, perhaps better seeing as how I know who you are.  It doesn’t matter.  All that matters now is the fact that I hope you’re listening now, and will take my input in the future._

Never in his life had Travis read a letter that gloated more than this one.  Of course the letter was 72 Degrees mocking him; it seemed to be what he doing as of late.  He doesn’t even have to picture the smirk of some stuck up because it was just there in the words.  He folded the letter away and picked at his lunch angrily before he returned to the station. 

Phil was at his desk angrily typing away.  Travis felt a little relieved; it meant Phil’s lead hasn’t gone so well.  Travis plopped down with a sigh, logging back into his computer, before he asked, “How’d your lead turn out?”

"Don’t get me started.”  Phil growled out, so it apparently went worse than Travis pictured.  “I bet your letting Gomez rot for a bit before you attempt to crack him.  No need to rub it in Travis.”

“Gomez alibi checked out.”  Travis said easily. 

“You’re joking!”  Phil said whipping around with a smile on his face.  “You’re lead suspect flopped, hell’s yeah.”

Travis just gave him a sharp look, watching Phil’s smile start to vanish very slowly.  “Hey, he was a good suspect.”  Travis snapped, and Phil just giggled a bit before he turned back to his computer screen.

They were both back to square one.  That meant both them him where on equal footing, even if Travis knew for a fact that Phil was completely wrong about the fact that Matthew and Julia were connected.  Still there wasn’t going to be any talking Phil out of it till he extinguished ever possibility that the two knew each other.   

With a sigh he figured the only thing he could do was look over Julia’s apartment, even though it was probably clean right now and her family was in the middle of packing everything up, he didn’t see the harm in looking it over one more time.  Maybe being there would help more than the pictures of the scene did.

“Hey, I’m gonna go check out Julia’s apartment again, you want to come with?”  Travis asked he got up and grabbed his jacket.  Phil just shook his head and kept working.  “Fine, your lost.”


	6. Chapter 5

Travis didn’t think he would remember what the crime scene looked like, after all Julia’s family was already packing up her life.  Boxes formed pathways or clustered sections around a table or something.  However the moment he opened the door and his mind did away with the boxes, still he had happy he had brought along the crime scene pictures to look at closely.

He shut the door behind him and entered the apartment, moving some boxes out of the way with his feet.   He walked around to where Julia’s body had been; giving a sad grin to the fact that there was still a bit of stain there.  He glanced around him, remembering the glass on the floor, but that had come up with next to nothing for them.  

Travis squatted down beside the stain, scanning the area from that level.  He huffed a bit, he could picture how it happened, but that doesn’t always help in catching the killer.    He opened the case folder, glancing over the picture, but not seeing anything he would have missed; forensics had collected all the shatter glass, even the pieces that had gone under some of her furniture. 

“You know the murder weapon’s under the couch,” A voice said suddenly, startling Travis a bit. 

He turned to it sharply, spring to his feet at the sight of a man dressed in what looked like a tailored suit.  At first glance he wondered if it was Julia’s brother, but the man was slightly fairer and taller than the brother.  The man had a fedora on, and had angled it just the right amount so that Travis could really only see the smirk on his lips.  Travis reached for his gun at the man chuckled. 

“I’m not here to hurt you detective,” The man said, “reaching for your gun is a waste of time and energy.  Trust me if I wanted to do hurt you I would have aimed for something more vital than your apartment wall.”

Travis’ eyes narrowed and he kept his hand on his gun.  Of course 72 Degrees would come out of nowhere to taunt him and be so close.  There was no chance for Travis to arrest him; the man had managed to slip through his fingers for so long, Travis is sure he had a planned escape if Travis so much as moved towards him.

72 Degrees crossed his arms and let out a sigh.  “I’m telling you the murder weapon is under the couch and you’re glaring at me.”  The man said in a manner that Travis can almost hear the man rolling his eyes.  “Though, it didn’t really kill Julia, no, what killed Jullia was strangulation correct, the knife was an attempt to make it look like it was me.”

“Why are you here?”  Travis ground out.  His stomach twisted as he noticed the smile on the man’s lips grow.

“Did you read my letter?”  The man asked.

“Maybe,” Travis said shifting his weight.

The man made a sound before he said anything.  “I’ll take that as a yes then.”

“How did you know David Gomez didn’t do it?  More importantly, impersonating a police officer is illegal.”  Travis said firmly.

72 Degrees let out a loud bark of laughter.  “I think murder has it beat.”  He paused for a moment, unfolding his arms and placing them in the pants pocket of his suit.  “I got an extra week of investigating on you.”

“You’re investigating this case?”  Travis asked a bit dazed.

“No, I’m looking for an apartment.”  72 said with a thick slice of sarcasm.  “What do you think?”

Travis shifted uncomfortably, he didn’t know if he liked the feel of this.  If 72 Degrees was looking into this case, than clearly his intension for the ending was not very bright for the murder, like any future was bright for a murder.  Suddenly it feels like it’s a race against the clock to see who could get to the actual murder first.  “If you’re investigating this case, do you have any leads?””

The man smiled and gave a snorted laugh.  “Now why would I share them if you?” 

A silence sat on them; Travis bit back what he wanted to say.  They were both after the real killer; of course they both have different ideas of where they want them to go. 

“Are you going to look under the couch?”  The man asked, shifting his weight.  He sighed when Travis just glared at him more, shaking his head a bit.  “Can you stop being so stubborn for five minutes?”   Travis grunted in reply, and he watched the man before him frown a bit before he shrugged.   “I’m just trying to help.”

72 Degrees seemed to watch him for a few more seconds before he turned and walked into the hallway he had probably materialized out of.  Travis doesn’t follow him; slight afraid of the fact that if he went around the corner he might question his sanity.  He held his position for another minute before he thought about looking. 

Dropping down on the floor he scanned the turned in the direction of couch.  To his shock he found something tossed within the dark depths that were below the couch.  He cursed.  Why did 72 have be there and know something?

\----  ----  ----

“I can tell you it was definitely the knife that caused the puncture wounds.”  Jonelle said as she turned over the knife in the evidence back.  She glared at Travis sharply for a moment, even though Travis was keeping his respective distance and was actually being quiet.  “However, no fingerprints can be lifted.  It’s been whipped clean.”

“Figures,” Travis said with a sigh, “if someone was trying to be 72 Degrees, don’t see why they wouldn’t be thorough.”

Jonelle made a sound, before placing the evidence bag on one of her tables.  “It’s part of a set,” She added lightly as Travis carefully moved to pick it up.  He made a curious sound.  “I would say ‘you know the kind newlyweds ask for on their register,’ but you wouldn’t have a clue.”

Travis let out a dry laugh and made a face at her.  “I’ve bought wedding gifts before.”

“Fair enough.”  Jonelle said, “but that doesn’t change the fact that there is a set with a missing knife.”  She fished out a folder and handed it to him.  “Find the owner of the set, find the killer.”

“Easier said than done.”  Travis said taking the folder, before Jonelle glared at him meaner than he was comfortable with.

\----  ----  ----

Phil looked defeated the next morning when Travis came in.  Travis could tell but the way he was slumped in his desk chair, looking absently over some files.  A bit of pride sparked in Travis’ stomach, he had chosen the right path once again.  He dropped his things at his desk, watching Phil as he noted his presents.

“Don’t gloat.”  Phil said when their eyes meet and Travis held his hands up in surrender.

“I was just gonna go get some coffee.”  Travis said with a small smile.  “Want some?”

Phil shook his head, but got up from his desk.  Travis smiled as he lead to the break room as Phil started to explain why everyone possible lead he had was wrong.  How apparently there was another Julia Lakeson who lived in Oregon, which Matthew Williams knew from childhood.  Or how one of Williams workers lived near the _Flashback Diner_ but never meet Julia in his life, just remembered seeing her working there from time to time.  Travis knew it was Phil’s long winded way of admitting he was wrong and the two murders were not connected.

“So, you won’t mind if I could hop on your investigation.”  Phil asked as Travis was sipped at his coffee.

“That’s fine; I could probably use another head now that it’s a race against 72.”  Travis said, waving off Phil’s confused look at the door.  “Long story, don’t ask.”  Travis made his way for the break room door, Phil following after him.

“You really expect me to not ask when you say something like that.  You are sadly mistaken, my friend.”  Phil said hitting him on the back.  “Come on.”

“It’s not important.”  Travis said heading to his desk, noticing a uniform tossing something on it.  He figured it was some report from someone about the case.  “Don’t worry about it.”

“That just makes me want to know more.”  Phil said with a laugh as they returned to their desks.  “You know I’m going to find out some way or another.”  Phil said pointing a finger at Travis as he plopped down in his seat.

Travis grabbed the folded paper the uniform placed on it.  To his surprise there was a post-it note on it on the outside, Travis ripped it off before opening it.  He was confused by the blankness, and he even flipped over the page to insure that there was nothing on it.  Phil seemed to take notice.

“What’s wrong?”  He asked.

“It’s just a blank piece of paper.”  Travis said handing it to Phil like it might help prove that he wasn’t crazy.  He turned to the Post-it note in hand, his eyes glanced over it.  It was just a simple date, address, and time.  He flipped it over, wondering if whoever sent it to he wrote anything on the back.  “You’re on…”  Travis read slowly.

Phil made it sound.  “Who’s it from?”

Reality hit Travis hard.  “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”  Travis said getting up from his desk and taking off towards the door but he already knew 72 Degrees was gone.

“Travis!”  Phil called as he just managed to wiggle through the doors of Robbery/Homicide before they closed.  “Travis, what the fuck is going on!?”

“72 Degrees just dropped this on my desk.”  Travis said handing Phil the note.  Looking at him to see if he understood what it meant.  “You know what that means?”

“I have a feeling I’m going to have to cancel my dinner date.”  Phil said with a bit of a pout on his lips.


	7. Chapter 6

The address was to a small cooking school rather close to the downtown area.  It wasn’t anything fancy, a simply little cooking school where people learned how to correctly cook recipes and impress people.   It was a small little place, with at least five tables in front at least two professional looking kitchens.  The staff seemed to making sure everything was in place and there were plenty of ingredients out for the people who were starting to arrive. 

Travis didn’t see any reason for 72 Degrees to send them here, unless it was simply to distract them so he could follow some lead of his own.   Travis growled at the very idea.  If this was a distraction, Travis would never trust a letter from the man again, and he would also make it his life goal put a bullet in him at least once.

“So…he sent us to a cook class?”  Phil asked looking around with a frown on his face. 

Travis made a sound in reply, but kept his mouth shut about it possibly being a distraction.  Besides they were early anyway, if nothing happened by the time they were leaving.  Travis would make sure that happened, he might even send Phil out to the car in advance to just listen to the radio, just to see if anything happened.

“Excuse me,” A voice asked.  Travis and Phil turned to see a small woman who looked like she just got over being a teenager.  She had a huge friendly smile on her face when they looked at her; she looked down at her clip board before asking.  “Can I have you names please?”

“Phil Kronish, and this is my partner Travis Marks,” Phil informed, reaching for his badge on his belt. 

The girl however was thoroughly looking over the list.  Travis chuckled a bit as her face twisted in confusion as she clearly didn’t find them on the list.  “We’re not here for a class,” Travis cut in before she could say anything.   She looked up at him confused, but he simply pointed to Phil’s badge, watching as she came to a realization. 

“Um…can you wait here for a sec?”  She said before she turned and hurried off to one of the staff members who seemed to be double checking everything. 

Travis watched as she whispered something to them and pointed to him and Phil.  The staff member made a face, before looking around; no doubt they were looking for their manager.  Their search seemed to rather fruitless.  “Yo, Wes, you know where Ryan is?”  The staff member called at some blonde man who just rounded the corner.  

“I thought he wasn’t coming in today.”  The blonde said, and Travis realized he looked a little familiar.  “Why?”

The girl and the other staff member just pointed in Phil’s and his direction.  Travis gave a wave, and Phil wiggled his badge in the air.  The blonde’s, or Wes’ as he seemed to be called, shoulders dropped, and he did a motion with his hand to signal he would handle it.  His two coworkers watched him as he walked by them. 

“I’m sorry our manager is out, can I ask why you’re here?”  The blonde asked as he neared them, crossing his arms as he stopped in front of them.  He raised an eyebrow at them and Travis can’t shake the fact that he feels like he’s seen the man before.  “If you’re here for an inspection, I can tell you we will file a harassment lawsuit.” 

Phil made a sound like he was cringing.  “We’re not here for an inspection—”

“Then do you have a warrant?”  The man asked, cutting Phil off and Travis is a bit impressed because the man clearly knew his Californian law.

“No, but we have a reason to believe something may happen here at 7:30.”  Phil said slowly, almost like he was expecting Travis to jump in and explain in better detail. 

The man just looked at him with a bit of a pout on his face, his pale blue eyes darting between the two like he was debating what to do.  That’s when it clicked for Travis.  He had seen the man, more specifically Wes, before.  He was the man who gave him the first note.  He was totally the same person, aside from the fact that he was wearing an apron and chief’s clothes.

“Have you received any weird phone calls?”  Travis asked suddenly.

“We get at least a hundred calls a day.”  Wes said doing his little attitude hip thing he had done when the first meet.  “Most of those are to schedule a class, some are wrong numbers, and the rest are people who are high of their ass and they’re a little weird.”   Wes sighed.  “However we don’t document them if you’re looking for something like that.”

“We’re not looking for something like that.”  Travis said.  “We’ve just been… _advised_ that something might be happening here tonight.” 

Wes’ eyebrows shot up at the word advised and he uncrossed his arms.  “I can tell you what’s going to happen.  We have a class at 7:30, Detective Marks.”  Phil made a confused sound at the sound of Travis’ name. 

“I’m sorry, do you know each other?”  Phil said.

Travis just smiled and chuckled a bit.  “In passing, he was an unknown messenger for 72 Degrees.”  Travis said low enough for just the three of them to hear.  He watched as all the blood from Wes’ face run away and his eyes widened.  “Relax, as long as you didn’t kill Julia Lakeson, I think you’re fine.”

“You mean the girl connected with Williams and his trafficking business?”  Wes asked clearly confused. 

Travis waved his hand at the miss understanding.  “The two aren’t connected.”  He said slightly, “so unless you have a knife set with a missing knife, I don’t care what you did.”

“No knives have going missing here?”  Phil cut in, and Wes just shook his head.

“We take inventory after every class, as far as I know nothings gone missing.”  Wes said.  Phil made a sound.  “Ryan has the original copies in his office—don’t ask for them unless you have a warrant.”

“You really know your law.” 

“Use to be a lawyer.”  Wes said making a bit of a face and shrugging a little.  “It ended up being too much so I went with something I like doing.”

“You like teaching people how to cook?”  Travis asked, “Because I never pictured you being a teacher or a cook.”

Wes just made a sound, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.  “I don’t exactly have the experience or degree to be a chief so I settled for this.”  Wes said with a shrug.

A sort of silence fell on them before Phil cleared his throat.  The two turned to him, to see he was glancing at his watch.  “You know, it’s almost time for your class to start, and clearly nothing has happened yet.”

“It’s five till,” Wes said slowly.

“Exactly,” Phil said with an odd sort of smile.  “Travis and I should get out of your hair; we can wait in our car to see if anything happens.”

Wes looked rather surprised, but he didn’t say anything, he just sort of nodded and let them go.  Travis gave him a friendly wave good-bye as they pushed out the door.  He saw Wes turn around, almost being swarmed by his coworkers trying to see what the whole thing was about.  Travis waited till they neared the car before he whacked Phil.

“What the hell was that!”

“Oh, someone had to stop your flirting.” Phil snapped, rubbing his arm where Travis hit him.

“I was not flirting!”

“I’ve been your partner for eight years man, you were flirting.”  Travis glared at him.  “Besides, I think it’s safe to say that my feeling that this was just a distraction for us is right.”

“I have a similar feeling.”  Travis said making a face.  “Still, it won’t hurt to wait around till the time on the slip passes, just crank up the police radio.” 

They sat there for the next ten minutes and Travis couldn’t help by feel that the whole ordeal was a waste of time.

\----  ----  ----

Missing Persons rarely came into Robbery/Homicide.  Usually it was only on the rare case that they needed to find someone, like a criminal who possibly skipped town.  Or when they found a dead body and needed to open up a murder investigation.   Many of their visits don’t always mean good news, especially when they come in and just head into Suttons office or go to a specific detective.

So when Kevin came hurrying in and continued in the direction of Travis’ desk, it was safe to say that at least half of the department noticed and paused briefly.   Kevin hurriedly leaned in so just Travis and Phil could hear him. 

“Does the name William Johnson sound familiar to you two?”  Kevin asked in a hurried voice.

“Yeah, he was the boyfriend of our victim, Julia Lakeson.”  Phil informed.  Kevin seemed to relax almost instantly at the fact that he went to the right detectives.  “Why?”

“His sister came in about half an hour ago.”  Kevin started.  “She said William didn’t come home last night, and she can’t get in contact with him.  She said he was usually good at telling her where he was going and answering her messages, but she hasn’t heard anything.”  Kevin paused and Travis and Phil exchanged a look.  “Now I did tell her we can’t start an investigation until he’s been missing for forty-eight hours.”  He took a breath.  “I remembered hearing his name in something about this case, so I figured I should tell you.”

“No man, that was a smart idea.”  Travis said, glancing at Phil again.  “We’re keeping it quiet, but we think we’re racing against 72 Degrees on this case.”

“It won’t hurt to look into his disappearance a little early.”  Phil said with a bit of smile before adding, “for the murder investigation of course.” 

Kevin gave them a bit a worried look before he bit his lip and nodded.  “I’ll take you to his sister.”

Kevin quickly guided them to the room he had William’s sister in, and the poor girl looked like she was just going to fall over and cry.  She was younger than William by three years or so, fresh out of college, and no fond of her brother vanishing.  However she was very cooperative with them, telling them everything they wanted to know without really asking why.  Travis was happy about that, she might not be from Los Angeles, but she had no doubt heard about the 72 Degrees Killer in some way.

“Where was your brother headed last night?”  Phil asked softly as she sniffled a bit from a small breakdown that Travis had managed to calm her out of.

“Um…It was class or something.”  She said, before reaching in her purse to get something.  “He gave me a card with the address when I asked.”  She held out the card, and Travis took, looking it over.  His shoulders dropped at the address.  “He wanted to treat me, since I was doing all the cooking since I’ve been here and I was a guest at all.”

“What time was his class?”  Travis asked, and he handed the card to Phil to look over.

“He said it was 7:30 or something.  He left later than he wanted to, but said he managed to make it there on time.”  She sniffled again, sounded like she was on the verge of crying again.  “But after that there was nothing.”

“Okay, thank you, so for your time.”  Travis said before he turned to Phil who just nodded.  “Detective Rodgers will help you with everything else.” 

With that he followed Phil out the room, and they both shared a freaked out look.  Both knew 72 Degrees had in a way warned them of something in the future with his note, but he had cunningly left everything useful out. 

“I’ll see if I can get a warrant for his apartment.”  Phil said, and Travis nodded, taking the card from Phil’s hand.

“Looks like I’m going to take a cooking class… _again_.”


	8. Chapter 7

“You again,” that was Travis greeting as he neared the little cooking school. 

It came from no one other than Wes, who looked like he was half using the broom in his hand to stand up straight.  Wes was dressed business casual, with the tight fitting jeans and another button down with the sleeves rolled up.  He had a fake annoyed look on his face; Travis can tell its fake even after seeing the man twice.  He was a detective after all.

“Nice seeing you too.”  Travis replied back in a teasing tone and a smile.

“What brings you back here?”  Wes asked with a roll of his eyes.  “Police business?”  Travis just sort of nodded, not willing to tell Wes exactly way he was there since nothing was official.  “Honestly, I’m going to begin to feel like criminal, if you keep showing up in my life.”  Wes said jokingly.

Travis laughed at the comment.  He had let it slip last night that Wes had had a run in with LA’s most infamous killer.  Travis could see the possibility of someone with less knowledge of the law flipping out over the fact because that had in away assisted a serial killer.  Wes had done it unknowingly and besides being a little shocked, he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong.   Besides Wes was probably the last person Travis should be worrying about.

“I’m looking into a missing persons,” Travis said shoving his hands in his pockets.  “We think they’re a possible suspect in a case we’re working on.”

“Julia Lakeson’s case?”  Wes asked easily with a bit of a grin.   Travis gave him a look and the man rolled his eyes.  “You and your partner were talking about it last night, I just figured.”

“Smart.”   Travis said simply, grinning a bit as Wes shrugged at the comment.  “You’re manager here today?  Or are you going to shoo me away for not having a warrant?”

“Ryan’s in today, I can take you to his office if you like.”  Wes said.

“That would be great.”

With that Wes collected his broom and turned towards the door.  Opening the door he politely asked some middle aged woman if she could handle the sweeping while he escorted Travis to Ryan’s office.  From then he lead him to the back with little conversation.  The school is a lot bigger behind the large kitchen they have out front, and there was staff running around all over the place trying to prepare for that days classes.  They don’t pay Travis or Wes much mind, someone might ask something and force Wes to stop briefly and tell them a sentence of information before moving again, but not a lot of interaction.

Eventually they neared an open door, with the nameplate that read _Ryan Acone_.  Wes nearly swung himself in the doorway before he reached over to knock a bit on the door.  Travis walked till he was in full view of the doorway before he looked inside.    The office was small, something he would expect for a small business owner to have.  With the slightly cluttered desk, the array of family photos on the walls, and some cabinets cuddled against the wall, make the space feel smaller.

There was man sitting at the desk, he looked slightly older than Wes, about mid-forties, rather friendly looking if Travis could judge personality on people talking on the phone.  Ryan simply held up a hand for Wes to wait, which Wes seemed to figure seeing as he moved to lean in the doorway.  Eventually Ryan wrapped his call and stood from his chair.

“Did you go out and find your replacement already?”  Ryan asked in a joking matter when he turned to Travis.   Wes made a sound, “I’m kidding Wes, no one could replace you.”  He turned back to Travis.  “This man can cook, and his magician with knives and food.” 

“He’s with the police.”  Wes said simply.

Ryan looked at Wes for a second before looking at Travis who smiled and flashed his badge.  “Well, seeing has how my hound dog didn’t send you packing, you’re not here for a ‘surprise’ inspection.”   Ryan said holding out his hand for Travis to take, which he did.  “How can we help you?”

“A possible suspect for a case I’m working on went missing last night.”  Travis said, leaving the details out for now.  “We believe this was the last known place he was last night.”

“What do you need from us?”  Ryan asked, surprising Travis a bit.  He seemed a lot more open about Travis looking through things than Wes.  Warrant or not.

“I’ll need the attendance sheets from both classes last night; to confirm that he was actually here, and then from there I might need to look at your security cameras, if you have any?”  Travis asked.

“Wes, why don’t you go see if you can get the forms from Paula,” Ryan asked and Wes rolled off the doorway in a way that Travis could only think of describing as a bored teenager.   Smiling the older man turned back to Travis.  “We have two cameras in the front, one outside and the other from the inside, and one in the back.  However the one in the back is ify, Wes has been trying to fix it whenever he can, but I convinced him to let a professional look at it when it just stopped working on us.” 

“Right now, anything will help.”  Travis said.

“I can take you there now, and we should pass Wes on the way so you’ll get the forms there.”

Ryan lead him through the back to another room with a few computer screens, two currently displaying what was happening outside in the front.  The third was black, but after some fiddling with it, Ryan managed to get some of the footage from the night before for Travis.  They had run into Wes on the way to the room and he handed them the forms and Travis easily spotted William’s name on the list while he waited for Ryan to get the computers to do what he wanted.    Ryan left when Travis was all set up, leaving with the comment that he could be in his office if Travis needed anything till about another hour or so.

Travis was left to himself after that.  He shot Phil a quick text about his progress, to get on in reply that they would have the warrant for William’s apartment within the hour.   After that Travis got to work scanning over the video.  William pulled in about five minutes before the class started, along with a couple, which in a way explained why Travis and Phil didn’t see him.  William stayed for the whole class only straggling behind to talk with some of the staff members before he disappeared from view.

He watched until the staff left and Wes locked up, but William never came appeared again.  Travis wondered if the back camera might have helped him figured out what happened, but it was clearly it have been tampered with, beyond Wes’ attempts to fix it.  Travis sighed leaning back in the chair; there was nothing that could help him at the moment.  He shot Phil another text about how William defiantly vanished from the cooking school, and the fact that the back camera had possible tampered with and was useless. 

Travis didn’t wait for Phil to reply back, he checked at the time and figured Ryan wouldn’t be in his office.  Sighing he grabbed some of his things and figured he would go and attempt to flag Ryan down to see if he could get the man to email the footage to them to see if someone could get something from it.  He got up and turned towards the door, to find Wes blocking the way.

“Ryan wanted me to see how things were going?”  Wes said easily with a small sort of smile, like he didn’t want Travis to know he had been there a while.

“Just wrapping up actually, I was going to ask Ryan if he could email the footage to me so someone else could look it over as well.”  Travis said smiling moving a bit closer to the door, but Wes didn’t budge.

“I’ll be sure to tell him.”  Wes said with a nod. 

Wes shifted his weight like he was going to move out of the way, but in the blink of an eye there was a sharp pain in Travis side and his body locked up, and something was over his mouth.  He knew the feeling from back in the academy.  He cursed, fucking tasers.  The thing over his mouth wasn’t helping, he couldn’t breathe.  His world was starting to fade and he could barely register the fact that someone was easing him down.

“Night, night, Detective Marks.”  A voice in the distance said, and somewhere in the back of his mind he finds it familiar to the voice from the gallery over two weeks ago. Well that was just great.

\----  ----  ---

The sound of something vibrating on a table is the first thing Travis’ brain manages to process as an actual sound he can recognize as he starts coming too.  His numbed mind starts to register the background noise is some Jazz, and something metal is being scrapped.  His side hurts, he feels sore all over the more he thought about, and it wasn’t like his pounding head wasn’t competing or anything.  He can feel his arms are tied behind him, and the fact that the ropes are tied by some professional.  He groaned as he opened his eyes as he straightened up a rather uncomfortable chair.

Someone made a sound, but Travis was too blinded by the lights to make out who it was.  “Oh, you’re awake,” They said cheerily, and the voice was clearly male.  

“Where am I?”  Travis asked with a growl of annoyance.

“Some warehouse, does it really matter, I’m the one with your phone.”  The voice said again and Travis’ brain is starting to get control of his eyes, and the light is slowly becoming less bright.  He can start to make a figure waving something about.  “You’re partner is very persistent, I’ll give him that.”

“Who are you?”  Travis asked, as his vision begins to clear more and more.  He can back out jeans and some black hoodie, and of course the hood was up.

“Ah, detective, I’m a bit hurt.”  The man said, the figure physically looked like man.  Travis blinks as the man keeps talking.  “Oh you know, The Ghost, Anonymous, The Law, Avenger, Vigil, or one of my favorite the Perfectionist.”  Travis’s eyes widen and he turned back the man.  “But you probably know me best as the name you coined for me.”

“72 Degrees.”  Travis breathed out.

72 Degrees made a sound of correctness, waving his hand around like he was ringing a bell.  Travis glared at him, watching the man carefully as he placed something on the table behind him.  Travis realized it was his phone, and he tugged sharply at his restrains.  The chuckled that escaped 72 Degrees lips made him shutter.   He cleared some things from the table, before he hopped up on it.  He shifted around a bit before he was comfortable with where he was and swung his legs a bit as they dangled off the edge.  The killer turned back to Travis before he reaching for his hood and throwing it back, and Travis’ blood just ran cold.

“You know, you never really had a proper introduction, Detective Travis Marks.”  The other smiled in a way that made Travis churn.  “I’m Wesley Mitchell, but you can call me Wes.”


	9. Chapter 8

Wes seemed to let the weight of what he just said settle.  Just sort of watching Travis as he attempted to not let the killer onto the fact that he was freaking out.   

Travis wanted to say something, _anything_ , he always imagined he could say something to the killer when they found out who he was.  He never knew what circumstances it would be under, but he had always hoped it was somewhere public, or when the man was chained to a table and no way of getting out.  However, now that the man in front of him, and it someone who has just seemed like some randomly selected person on the street, words just seem to be failing Travis.

Wes seemed to like his silence, seeing as how he grinned at it.  “I feel like I finally managed to shut you up.”  Wes said smartly, before sighing.  “Honestly, I thought you would at least say _something_.” 

The killer was about to say something before the phone vibrated beside him, interrupting him.  He picked it up and seemed to read the message, before typing away and setting the phone down again.  Wes turned back to Travis and made a face at the glare the detective was giving him.

“Oh don’t be like that; I was just cluing your partner in to what’s going on.”  Wes said.  “I couldn’t have the police raiding the place before I got to talk to you.”

Travis made a sound, he had hoped Phil had been clued in earlier, there was no why the man could text the way Travis did without making it seem like someone else was doing it.  Hopefully the police were already surrounding the place as the spoke, well Wes spoke, Travis was still getting over the fact that it was Wes.

However thinking back, it made some sense, if Travis had been paying way more attention.  Wes had asked him if he was “Detective Marks” when he gave him the first note, and there was at least two other people with leather jackets that Wes could have asked.  At the time it seemed like a struck of luck, Wes had played it off like it was a struck of luck, but in reality he knew.   Then the whole thing with the cooking school, it had been all the planning of Wes.  He had messed with the camera; he was the one who closed up when William went missing.  It was all there, but Travis just hadn’t noticed.

“It’s all clicking into place for you now isn’t it?”  Wes asked, resting his head in his hand, Travis just glared.  The lighter man just chuckled.  “I thought you would catch on at some point, but apparently your more thickheaded then I thought.”  Travis growled in reply.  “At least you’re getting it now though.”

“Where’s William Johnson?”  Travis asked firmly.

“He speaks!”  Wes declared happily, before the look on his face darkened.  “Why would I tell you?”

“So we can bring him to justice.”  Travis said easily, happy he getting over the shock and could talk again. 

Wes made a sound of annoyance.  “Yeah, right.  All it takes is a good lawyer and some money, and a guilty man can get away with whatever he wants.”  Wes said easily.  “I’ve seen it happen to many times to know this system has a weird way of giving justice.”

“And killing people is better?”  Travis snapped back sharply.

“People don’t have to testify that way.  They don’t have to have relive the horrible experiences, or be torn apart on the stand by the opposing lawyer.  Besides, money isn’t been wasted on them in jail.   It’s better in the long run.”  Wes said with a shrug.  He straightened up suddenly, putting his hands in the pocket of his hoodie.  “That’s why I kill people, Detective Marks.”

Travis can only thing that it was a twisted reason, and it was, in all fairness.  Nothing about it really made anything 72 Degrees did seem like it was good for the community.  Travis kept his mouth shut, as much as he wanted to tear apart the ideas of some psychopath with a bit of hero complex it seemed, he wasn’t sure what might happen in reply.  He just sort of tugged at the restraints on his arms.

“So I figure, we have at least another twenty-five minutes before your coworkers come bursting through the door,” Wes said with a sudden perkiness that could only mean he was moving on from that conversation.  “You can ask me anything you want.”

“Where’s William Johnson?”  Travis asked again and Wes gave him annoyed glare.

“I already answered that, maybe you should listen.”  Wes said simply.

“Fine then, can you untie me?”   Travis said, he doesn’t know why he suddenly feels the need to be a smartass, but he does.  Maybe it was just a way of him dealing with the fact that he was tied to a chair and there was a killer sitting at least seven feet away from him.  He doesn’t know, and he really doesn’t care at the moment as long as the other didn’t decide to run a knife through him.

Wes laughed in reply.  “Of course I _can_ untie you, but that doesn’t mean I will.”

Travis let out a bit of growl, apparently Wes could be a smartass as well.  “So is your name really Wesley Mitchell?”

Wes made an amused sound.  “I haven’t told you anything that was lie throughout this whole case Travis, and you ask that.”  Wes said with a bit of a dramatic sigh, before he took his hands out of the pouched and reached for a pair of gloves.  “It’s Wesley Andrew Mitchell, if we want to get specific, and yes it is my real name.”  Wes said as he pulled on one glove.  “Of course, you shouldn’t bother looking me up, I’m a dead man.”

Travis made a sound at that, and Wes looked at him briefly before snickering a bit to himself.

“I jumped off a bridge in 2005, right in front of the Mrs.” Wes said before he paused for a moment.  “Actually she wasn’t the Mrs. anymore when it happened.  Divorce can do nasty things to people.”  Travis watched the man carefully as he slide the second glove on before reaching for a cloth.  “It was all planned out of course, and they never found the body, so they just assumed and I was declared dead.”

“You faked your own suicide?”  Travis asked with some shock.

“No, I decided I wanted to swim.”  Wes said with his sharp sarcasm again.  “Do you even listen, or are your ears just decoration?”

“That’s rude.”

“You’re the one who asked a stupid question.”  Wes said levelly as he picked up Travis’ phone and carefully wiped it down.  “But to answer your question, I did fake my own suicide.  I’ve found it’s easier to be a killer and be dead, then alive and working.”

“Twisted bastard,” Travis growled earning a snort from the man across from him.  “You told me you were a lawyer, was that true as well?”

“I didn’t learn the law in prison, now did I?”  Wes said with a smile as he carefully placed Travis’ phone beside him on the table.  “I was a lawyer for three years strong.”

Travis didn’t ask anything after that, he didn’t feel the need for the conversation to carry on anymore.  He just watched Wes as he rubbed the cloth along the table beside him and packing up his things, and ridding any trace of himself.  Wes hopped off the table, and Travis took his chance to really try at the restraints while the other had his back turned.  Apparently, Wes was very good at tying knots.  Travis gave a frustrated growl and Wes turned to him. 

“Don’t hurt yourself.”  Wes said slowly as he reached from something on the table.

The blonde killer eased towards him slowly, dragging whatever he reached for along on the table till his arm fell to his side.  Travis saw something catch the light as Wes drew closer, but the man still seemed to managed to keep it out of sight.  He became more and more uncomfortable with each step the killer took.  Shifting in the chair he was tied too, he hopped that for whatever twisted reason Wes didn’t decided to kill Travis and have his identity vanish with him.

“Killing a police officer will cause you more trouble than you can imagine.”  Travis said trying to act tough, but he doesn’t exactly feel it. 

Wes stopped walking towards him for a second, like he was taking Travis words into account.  However, it didn’t last long.  Wes was talking slow, graceful strides towards him, his pale blue eyes watching Travis closely as he shifted in his pinned down state.  Travis doesn’t even want to know what was going through the man’s head at the moment, because he knows it wasn’t going to be bright for his end, but it didn’t stop the chill that ran down his spine.

“Sutton will have the whole force looking for you, and Phil will piece it together and somehow they’ll get to you.”  Travis said firmly again, trying to delay in hopes that the police will come bursting in.

Wes didn’t stop in his strides towards Travis, only stopping when the toes of his shoes meet Travis’.  The man towered over him.  Wes clucked his tongue in response to Travis’ words, reaching out and grabbing the detective’s chin firmly.

“We both know your partner would be the last one to put together.”  Wes said with a growing grin.  Damn, the man knew he was right, and Travis had a feeling he was a bit as well. 

“You don’t know Phil like I do.”  Travis hissed, forever tensing in the man’s grip.

“Maybe,” Wes said simply as he stared down at Travis.  “Maybe not.  But you have to admit he needs help when putting the puzzle together.”    Travis just glared.  How close was 72 Degrees to know this?  “Now, relax, Travis.  I’m not going to kill you.”  Wes said with a roll of his eyes.  Travis swallowed a little louder than he intended, which caused Wes to smile.  “I just want to talk.”

“We’ve been talking, jackass.”

Wes’ face was controlled, the only response Travis got was an eyebrow twitch , before Wes pulled at Travis’ chin and leaned with in his personal space.  “It’s more of presenting a challenge.”

“A challenge?”  Travis asked carefully with a raised eyebrow.

The killer made a sound of conformation.  “I know you like challenges, so why don’t we have some fun.”  Wes paused, leaving space for Travis to respond, but Travis didn’t take it.  “You know I have William Johnson holed up somewhere, and I’ll give you a hint, it’s not here, I’m not an idiot.”

“Clearly,” Travis muttered as a bit of compliment, because Wes clearly was intelligent to be so mysterious for so long.  Travis ignored the smile on the lighter man’s lips.

“Currently I’m teaching William it’s bad to copy someone like me,” Wes said.  “The man’s stubborn, and I want him to know what his mistake was before I kill him.  So there is a chance that you and your coworkers can find him before I finish schooling him.”

“I figure you have a deadline.”  Travis said harshly.

“Smart and good looking, no wonder you have a different woman almost every week.”  Wes said and Travis gave an unwanted shutter.  “You have till 10pm Friday.”

A silence curled around them.  Wes leaned away from Travis and released his chin from his hold.  He turned and walked back to the table he had been sitting on, placing the knife in his hand in a sheath.   Wes pulled up his hood, before he moved to check a watch and made a sound.  He reached for something on the far side of the table before placing it by Travis’ phone.  Travis realized it was his gun, badge, and wallet.  That just made Travis ten times more unconformable, because not only had Wes clearly lugged him around and tried him to some chair, he went through his pockets.

“LAPD!”  Come a shout to Travis’ left, and there were echoes of other officers.

 Wes chuckled, “you’re friends ran a little late, I guess I can assume the place is surrounded.”  He shrugged before grabbing a bag from the floor beside the table and flung it on his back.

“He’s here with me!”  Travis shouted, giving Wes a smart look.  Wes however turned to Travis for a brief second before he flung the table over on its side.

Travis cringed at the loud crashing sound it made, and with one last smug look, Wes took off, running to the dark depths of the warehouse and disappearing.   Travis could hear his footsteps vanish away, and the calls of the task force flooding in with the sound of Jazz still playing through the air.  He hadn’t realized it was still going till that moment. 

Phil round the corner first, gun at the ready, relief of his face when he saw Travis alive and tied to a chair.  Travis was happy to see him as well.  Phil put his gun in his holster after a few more officers filed in and were sweeping the place.  Phil didn’t say much, just that it was good to see Travis again as he worked at undoing the knots.

The Jazz stopped sharply, and Travis froze, but he wasn’t the only one, everyone around him seemed to stop. 

“ _Remember, Travis, you have till Friday at 10pm.”_   Wes said over the loudspeaker, clearly making his voice different.  Someone called for a group to inspect the office area of the warehouse.

“What does that mean?”  Phil asked slowly.

“Untie me and I’ll tell you.”  Travis replied and Phil got back to work.


	10. Chapter 9

Travis’ head is spinning the moment Phil untied him from the chair, and that was at least an hour ago.  He went over every little detail in his head.  Trying to see if he could think of anything Wes said, did, or had that could possibly lead them to where ever the hell he was keeping William.  However there wasn’t anything, Wes had been smart about his distance and possessions, and Travis isn’t exactly a Sherlock Holmes where he can just figure something out by looking at people.  Plus, he did have to take into account that he was tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse near the edge of town with a serial killer.

He was so inside his head thinking, trying to processes the tiniest of details, even with his interactions with Wes before he knew he was 72 Degrees, that he was hardly talking to anyone.  If he was it was a curt or half ass answer.  Something that the people around him probably figured was shock.  He doesn’t mind that so much, though it was annoying that some paramedic kept glaring at him every time he shrugged off the blanket they wrapped around his shoulders.

Phil’s feet came into Travis’ line of sight as he was chilling on the bumper of the ambulance and looking at the ground.  His partner cleared his throat.  Travis glanced up at him.

“Here’s your wallet, badge, and phone.”  Phil said handing them to him in a bag.  Travis made a face as he took them.  “Yeah, forensics wanted to see if there were any prints, but they’re all clean.”

“No gun?”  Travis asked gently.

“You and I both know, Suttons not going to let you touch a gun till he’s certain you aren’t messed up in the brain form this whole event.” 

Travis sighed as he opened the bag and took out his things out.  He was happy that forensics wiped them clean of their dust.  Phil was right about Sutton though, but Travis figured he was going to have to sit down with the police shrink and some point after this whole thing, whither he wanted to or not.  A silence came to rest on the two detectives as Travis shoved the things away into his pocket. 

“I think we can assume 72 Degrees skipped away.”  Phil said with a bit of defeat.  Travis isn’t too surprised but the statement.  Wes was very good at slipping through their fingers, didn’t matter the circumstances.  “It just sucks that we were so close.”

“Slightly too close for comfort,” Travis muttered as he stood up, but he knew Phil heard him for the most part, “and for too long.”

Phil just made a sound, but he didn’t say anything.  Travis was glad about that.  “Sutton wants to see you, so we should probably get going.”  Phil said fishing out his keys from his pocket.  He led the way to his car, with Travis trailing behind him.

\----  ----  ----

“Travis!”  Sutton called happily when Travis entered through the Robbery/Homicide doors.  There was a chorus of applause, more for the people who saved him that actually Travis.  Still he smiled widely, happy to be in a well lit room with people he knew and could trust.  “Good to see you’re still in one piece.”

Sutton clapped him on the back when he reached the bottom of the stairs.  “Despite some rope burns, I came out rather unharmed.”  Travis said, but he didn’t say anything about counting himself lucky.

“That’s good to hear.”  Sutton said happily, guiding Travis towards his office.

The darker man didn’t even look to Phil for help, because he expected this.  Besides, Phil looked like he might topple over if there was even an ounce of new stress in his life.  Travis doesn’t hold it against him; he would have flipped out if 72 Degrees had Phil.  Sutton seemed rather pleased that Travis wasn’t fighting his lead. 

Sutton didn’t say anything else to Travis until the door to his office was securely shut behind him.  Travis managed to plop down in one of the chairs in front of the Captain’s desk before the man uttered a word.  “Rather close encounters.”  Sutton said, and Travis can hear the bit of smile in his voice.

“You have no idea.”  Travis muttered hardly loud enough for Sutton to hear.

“I never thought 72 Degrees would do something like this, you know.”  Sutton said as he eased into his own seat.  Travis watched the older man closely; Sutton shot him a kind grin.  “Did you learn anything?”

Travis learned everything he needed to crack 72 Degrees’ case wide open and lock the man away for good.  He had Wes’ name, his full name.  Not mention he was the first person to no doubt see the man’s face while he wasn’t being just some guy on the street and live to tell the tale.  Travis knew he could sit down with a sketch artist and they could have a picture to the news by morning.  But he also learned enough to for the most bring William Johnson to justice for Julia Lakeson’s murder.  Even though there was no why or real evidence to back it up currently, everyone knew that if 72 Degrees had him it was a pretty sure fire thing that he did it.

“72 Degrees’ has William Johnson hidden away somewhere and we have till Friday night to find him before we have another murder case on our hands.”  Travis said first. 

Sutton nodded, “I think everyone in the station’s heard that.”

Travis swallowed loudly before he opened his mouth again.  “Now, I know I might sound like I’m protecting him or something, and trust me I’m not,” Travis said straightening up in his seat, “I just want to confirm everything he told me was true.  And I’d rather give you a picture that a sketch.”

Sutton raised an eyebrow, but made a sound.  To Travis luck he didn’t press for anything more.  “With this case, it might be worth it.”  Sutton that thoughtfully, Travis is really counting himself lucky that no one is pushing for him to describe Wes.   Granted he was the only one to live and see 72 Degrees’ face.  “Looks like there is a mountain of work to do for us.” 

Travis nodded, “The sooner I start, the better.”

“Whoa,” Sutton said, holding up his hand to stop Travis.  “You’re going home to get some rest, and you’re going to have a detail on you till this bastard is either caught or disappears into the woodwork again.”

“A _detail!”_   Travis snapped.  “You can’t be serious!”

“One of my best detectives just got snatched up like it was nothing by one of the notorious killers Los Angeles has ever seen.   Not to mention anyone noticed till there was a signature of 72 in a text.”  Sutton said firmly.  “I’m completely serious.”

“I don’t need a detail, Cap.”  Travis defended, “He’s not going to come after me anymore.”

“He’s obsessing, Travis.”  Sutton snapped, and Travis bit his lip, because in a way what Sutton what was saying was true.  “Latching on, it’s only a matter of time before he becomes possessive.  Honestly, it’s amazing you haven’t gotten letters or what not from him.”  Sutton gave him a bit of an angered look, and Travis looked at anything that wasn’t his boss.  He was read like a book.  “Jesus Christ!  Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because he was helping with the case.”  Travis said lowly, cringing a bit at the sound Sutton made before took a deep breath.

“I’m taking you off this case.”

“ _WHAT?!”_ Travis shouted in shock.  For a brief moment the noise outside Sutton’s office seemed to pause.

“You’re off this case.”  Sutton repeated firmly, getting to his feet.

“Cap, you can’t take me off this case.”  Travis fought back, getting to his feet as well.  “That’s seven years of my life down the drain.”

A silence came to sit of them, both men standing their ground.  Travis has a feeling he isn’t going to win this fight, because Sutton would eventually convince him it was the best thing.  Besides, Travis knew criminal psychology, and granted Wes clearly wasn’t their average criminal, anyone of his mentality and line of work becoming possessive, and that never ended well for the person.  However, he doesn’t want to back down from this case so easily.

After about a minute of staring, Travis’ phone rings.  He fished into his pocket pulls out the phone that’s blasting a ringtone he didn’t remember having.  It was blasting the words: “ _My fate is my life it's rolling the dice, If you try to push me it ain't going to be nice, I get wicked, wicked~.”_   Damn it all, Wes did more than just text Phil while he was out.  Grumbling Travis checks the caller ID and froze.  Sutton noticed, but before he can ask, Travis hits the ignore button.  Within seconds the phone is ringing again.  Travis growled, he really didn’t have time for this.

“Answer the phone Travis,” Sutton said calmly.  Travis glanced at him, before nodding and answering the phone and putting it on speaker phone.

“ _How dare you ignore my first call!”_ Wes’s voice snapped, Travis noticed he had slightly changed it like he had in the warehouse only an hour and half ago.  “ _It’s rude!”_

Sutton gave him a weird look, but Travis waved him off.  “Sorry, I don’t feel up to talk to you.  I mean you did tie me to a chair.”

“ _Am I on speakerphone?”_   Wes asked a bit of his real voice peeking through in his curiosity.  Travis glanced at Sutton who was looking at the phone.  “ _I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.  Who else is there?”_

“Captain Mike Sutton, here.”

“ _Oh~!  I wanted to talk you, Captain Sutton.”_   Wes almost sang, like he had the best stroke of luck.  There was the sound of something clattering in the background.  Clearly Wes was doing something else while he was on the phone.  “ _I’m assuming you’re going to take Travis off the case.”_

“He’s in the process of doing so.”  Travis said smoothly, and he gave Sutton an apologetic look.

Wes made a sound on the other end of the line.  “ _My time could never be better than.”_ Wes said with a bit of happiness in his voice, before it shifted to a strong business like voice.  “ _Take Detective Marks off this case and expect to add another name to my list of crimes by morning.”_   Wes let his threat sit for a moment.  “ _And trust me I will find out if you do or don’t.”_   With that the line went dead. 

Travis just looked at Sutton with a slight bit of hope.  As much as he hated that fact that Wes just threated to kill someone if he was taken off case, Travis was slightly happy about it.  He knew the older man probably wasn’t.  Sutton started at Travis’ phone for a moment before he sat back down in his desk chair.

The older man sighed. “Run that number,” Sutton said pointing at the phone, Travis just nodded.  “Go home, get some sleep, and you start cracking down on this bastard in the morning.”

“Thanks, Cap.”  Travis said with a bit of a smile.

Sutton made a sound and waved Travis out of his office.


	11. Chapter 10

The next morning, the station was buzzing with activity.  Finding William became the top priority of everyone in Robbery/Homicide.  There wasn’t a person in the whole unit that didn’t want to bring 72 Degrees out of his shadows, and they weren’t going to pass up him giving them a chance.  Besides, Travis would much rather see William go through the process of the legal system than let Wes have the satisfaction of killing someone else.

Kate and Amy were sent to William’s apartment as soon as they got in.  Phil handing them the warrant and information about the fact that William’s sister was visiting.  They went off to see if William had been smart to dispose of any evidence he might have, Travis hoped the man hadn’t thought too much about it.  William had probably figured he wouldn’t get caught seeing as how it was only recently that the police had redirected their investigation.

Phil and Travis were both preparing for a task force meeting for later in the afternoon.  Phil was looking into some possible locations for 72 Degrees to be hiding in, along with the help of a few other detectives.

Travis had Kendall run the number Wes had called him from.  He wasn’t too surprised when she returned to tell him it was pretty much a burner phone.     The number was basically to a prepaid phone, but through a cell phone company.  It was purchased by an Astrid Palmer a few years back via credit card; only thing was she lived on the other side of the country.  Travis thanked Kendall for the information and asked her to inform Sutton.  She nodded in reply and hurried off to the older man’s office without much else. 

Travis jotted down Astrid’s name, making a note to look the name up later.  Wes didn’t seem like the type to have an assistant or helper of any kind, still it didn’t help to look into the name incase the information was outdated.  Travis went back to his job of checking to the story Wes told him.  Indeed there was a Wesley A. Mitchell that had died about seven years back.  Jumped off a bridge and the body was never found.  However Travis was going to buying any of it till he saw a picture.  It seemed like it was his lucky day when he stumbled upon an old newspaper article about the whole event.  Travis grinned when he noticed it had a picture of Wes. 

“He really was telling the truth.”  Travis said to himself as he printed out his information before he went to head to the conference room to help Phil set up their board.   This case was just cracked wide open by Wes himself.

\----  ----  ----

“ _This just in, police may have a possible break in the 72 Degrees Killer’s case.”_   The news reporter said as a breaking news icon materialized by her head and a dramatic piece of music played in the background.  “ _That’s right, after seven long years, police finally have a name and face to the mysterious killer who has claimed the lives of nearly 40 people.   The police have yet to release any of this new information, but Channel 5 News will keep you update on everything regarding this case.”_   The news reporter smiled and the camera changed to a view of her and her partner at their little table.

The two started chattering a bit about the new development within the case, Travis drowned them out.  Sutton had just released the fact that there was new information forming in the case, and the media had more than pounced on it.  There wasn’t a reason for them not to; Travis was slightly put off by their excitement about it.  However, Travis had asked that they keep everything under wraps till they at least had William safe and custody.  He didn’t want Wes to suddenly not be happy about the sudden unveil of who is his and just kill William.

The task force meeting had gone over well, and now most of Robbery/Homicide was looking into finding ever possible location Wes could be hiding.  Everyone had been sort of motivated to find him by the fact that they now had a name and face.  Phil had been a bit shocked that it was Wes, but the fact that recognized Wes from previous encounters had helped in a way, solidify Travis information more.

Someone changed the channel as Travis sipped at his coffee, trying to ignore the feeling that he knew it was going to be a long night.  “ _72 Degrees is finally getting a face and name.  Stay tune for more info after the break.”_   Another news caster said in a cheery yet dramatic tone.

Travis rolled his eyes as he headed towards the door.  He wished the news channels weren’t make it seem like they were going to tell the public ground breaking news, when the police were keeping everything under lock and key.  He had a feeling there was going to be a cloud of reporters for anyone who left the station within the next hour or so.  He walked back to his desk, watching as Phil crossed out another address on the list.

“Anything?”

“Gang and Narcodics were able to conform some warehouses the gangs are still using, but there still looking into some for us.  There is still a chance.”  Phil said tapping his pen on the paper.  “How’s the press taking the news?”

Travis looked at him for a second.  “They’re acting like we caught him.”  Travis said.  “Honestly makes me wonder the field day they’re going to have when we actually have Wes locked up.”

“I don’t think will be able to walk two steps without being swarmed by them.”  Phil said in a teasing tone.  “Oh, the report came in on the some stuff Kate and Amy brought back from William’s apartment.”

Travis smiled; he knew good news was coming.  “At least Julia will be getting some justice.”  He said, even though he had a feeling Julia was going to get some form a justice done for her murder, whither it was completely legal or not.  He turned back to his work.

A silence sat on the two detectives for a while, just the hustle and bustle of the station as it scrambled to gasp the smallest bit of details for this case.  Everyone was so focused on finding Wes while also attempting to keep everything away from the media.  It wasn’t an easy job, and Travis was hoping that it would sure as hell be rewarded.

“You know what’s been bothering me?”  Phil said breaking their silence after he had shuffled through some papers.  Travis turned to look at him, finding the blonde man looking over information that Travis had found to confirm Wes’ story.  “Why in the world did he tell you all this?”

Travis gave a shrug in reply.   “Maybe he was bored or something,” Travis said with a sigh, “I don’t know.

And he didn’t really know.  Even if they brought in countless psychologists to piece together something that would make sense, Travis was sure they would still be a bit sketchy.   Sutton had called in one, the woman who had turned the Captain into the cuddly teddy-bear with the tough side that came out every so often.  Travis was a bit surprised, when he noticed she entered the room asking for Sutton.  Still she looked like she was having a descent tine piecing through everything they knew about Wes for a possible explanation.

Yet understanding Wes’ psyche wasn’t going to help the police pin down a location for where he was keeping William.  It wasn’t going to catch him either, and it probably sure as hell wouldn’t help Travis sleep at night. 

Phil just made a sound.  “Besides,” Travis continued, “just because we have his name and face doesn’t mean we’re going to have an easier time finding him.”  That fact pissed Travis’ off more than he would have liked.

\----  ----  ----

Gang and Narcotics came through at around noon the next day.  Well really it was Travis’ foster brother Money who helped give them the lead.  Rumors were thick, and usually true, in the criminal world, and Money had caught wind of some gang having turf trouble with a warehouse just a little bit north of Chinatown.  Gang and Narcotics asked around in the area the moment Travis asked them to check out.

After poking around for what felt like forever, and probably handing out deals to just get the people to talk, they got something.  Well more than something.  They got an overflow of information.  It wasn’t just one gang having a problem with the warehouse, which they could give the address to, it was all of them.  It was a building they had all fought over, the building always seemed to be changing hands, and each, in a way, had assumed someone managed to claim it and keep a good hold on it.  Even if hadn’t just figured, wrongly, still wouldn’t have gone running to the police.

They’re stories were, for the most part, the same.  Within five minutes of any entering the building, there were gunshots going off.   Before they knew it there was a masked man had come out of nowhere, with a gun in one hand and a knife in the other.  No one of them really stuck around after that and they didn’t really chance a second attempt.

Some officers had gone to check it out, when it was confirmed something fishy was going on.  They weren’t shot at; they were congratulated for finding the place.

By two the task force was finally ready to be mobilized.  They had been briefed and armed as quickly as possible.  They were playing every card they had, Sutton had called SWAT with the location, and they had the building surrounded within twenty minutes.  Every possible exist was covered, and Travis prayed to God, Wes hadn’t found somewhere else to disappear through. 

Everyone is buzzing and more than ready to go.  Sutton tagged a long, and he was more than ready to go rushing in, had Phil not been able to actually talking the man into standing guard.  It felt like it took ten minutes for Travis to just confirm that everyone was in their place, snipers and all.  The police were more than ready to shot and kill Wes if it came down to it.  Travis would much rather be leading Wes out in handcuffs and serving him a proper plate of justice, than carrying the man out in a body bag.  But if push came to shove, he knew for sure he was more than ready to pull the trigger and shot the bastard where it counted.

“Everyone’s in position, we go on my word.”  Travis said into the radio.

“You ready?”  Phil didn’t turn to look at him, and neither did Travis.  

Travis was more than ready; he was going to explode if something didn’t happen in the next five minutes.  He already feels like he’s running on adrenaline.  “Yeah, let’s catch this bastard.”

“Hell’s yeah!”  Phil said causing Travis to smile and roll his eyes at the same time.

He took a calm breath.  The air is tense and he feels like he’s putting it off.  He’s making Wes wait, if he was even still in there, and Travis finds it to be kind of nice.  He had a feeling Wes knew they were all there, and he’s just waiting in the shadows to pounce, and Travis is making him wait.

“On the count of three.”  Travis said into the radio, giving a nod to Kate by the door to make sure he was ready.  “One.”  Amy bounced a bit on the balls of her feet ready to kick the door.  “Two.”  Everyone tensed .  “Three, now!” 

Amy kicked the door in with everything she had, Kate sliding through the door with her gun at the ready.  Phil and Amy shuffle right in behind her shouting “LAPD!” with all the force they could muster.  

Travis followed in after them, everyone else pooling in behind him and sweeping the place.  Travis doesn’t take much mind, because the only thing he actually takes in is the Soft Jazz greeting him.


	12. Chapter 11

The world felt like it was at a standstill for Travis, and he knew it be spinning like a top.  There was adrenaline running though his veins he could feel it, but everything just felt slow.  He can’t shake the feeling as well as he would like too, and it was annoying as hell. 

“What the hell?!”  Phil hissed as Travis eased up behind him, managing to somewhat bring Travis to reality a bit more.  The lighter man turned to look at Travis.  “Is he just waiting around with a glass of wine or something?” 

Travis smiled a bit, because he could almost see Wes doing something like that.  Being so annoyingly close to just slip away.  “Honestly, I don’t think I would put it past him.”  Travis said, his eyes scanning a bit of the second story that he could see.  “Let’s find William and get this psycho off the street.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”  Phil said carefully advancing, Travis only a step or two behind him.

For the most part, the warehouse was empty; just some equipment that was too big or not needed whenever the company that used to own the building left it.  It was just a wide open space otherwise, and there were too many hiding places for anyone to be comfortable.  It was probably safe to say that Wes knew all of them and then some, every cop in the building knew that.  If anything, Travis would be more than willing to bet that Wes was watching them form one of them at the moment.  Just sort of waiting to see what they did.  Of course, it was only a matter of time before someone found him.  The whole police force was practically in the building, this was an event.   Travis honestly won’t be surprised if there were news vans outside when they finished.

Phil and him neared some of the equipment, carefully sweeping through it.  Other officers and detectives doing the same, each carefully turn guns aimed and at the ready.  The air was tense, and the slightest sound made everyone a little jumpy.  It was dead quiet in that place, aside from the Jazz, which Travis had managed to block out.  The radio was quiet; everyone was stepping as light as they could.

“ _Heading up to the second level.”_   Someone said over the radio suddenly.

“Go ahead,” Phil replied and the radio went silent again.   

A beat of silence passed then gunfire rang out.

The radio exploded with noise, hell every cop in the room was shouting or shooting.  Travis slammed his back hard against some of the old machinery.  Taking shelter as he tried to figure out where the gunfire was coming from.  Phil was behind him in half a second.  Kate and Amy took shelter just a ways in front of them, Travis silently asked if they were alright.   They gave him thumbs up in reply.

“I was wondering if it would get exciting.”  Phil said beside him, and Travis could hear a grin in his voice.   Travis looked at him.  “What?  You can’t seriously say the jazz had your blood pumping.”

The Jazz music had done next to nothing for Travis except take him back to when the bastard had him tied to a chair.  It hadn’t exactly been the most helpful mind set, but now with gun fire, his adrenaline was pumping a new.  “Shut up.”  Travis growled.

The radio was loud on Travis’ shoulder, and he actually considered turning it off just so he could think.  The chaos on it was making his head spin.  Half the people outside were demanding to know what in the world was happening.  Half of the people inside just kept repeating “shots fired” over and over again, and the other half was just trying to regroup and make sure everyone was okay. 

More shots went off behind them. 

“What the hell?!”  Phil said whipping around to look, only to duck back at stray bullets seemed to clatter about behind them.  “How did he get across the building in a minute?”  Phil peeked out of cover and fired off a few shots in the direction of the fire.

Travis turned to look at the second level.  He knew for a fact that Wes was not that fast; it wasn’t humanly possible, especially without someone noticing him.   There was no way Wes went from one side of the warehouse to the other, even if Wes knew the place like the back of his hand.  Travis cursed.  

Wes had a whole two hour warning practically that they were coming; he wasn’t stupid, even if he stayed in the building.  No doubt in Travis mind that the man booby trapped the place. God only knew the amount of skills Wes actually possessed.  He’d been declared dead for seven years, he didn’t lie around killing people all the time, or working.    Travis didn’t want to think about what he did in his spare time, but the man had to do something, and who was to say he didn’t learn how to lay a trip wire with it.

Travis focused in on a set of stairs.  “Honestly, Phil, I don’t think he did.”  He stared at the stairs like Wes was just going to walk down and way at him.  “I think he booby trapped the place.”

“Seriously!?”  Kate snapped, apparently she was in hearing distance.  Travis didn’t reply, just nodded.  “Well that’s just great.”

“Probably should have figured it.”  Amy said beside her, grumbling as a stray bullet seemed to bounce by her.  Phil grumbled to himself at Amy’s words.  “What do we do now?”

“Same as always,” Phil said with a bit of a grin, and Travis rolled his eyes, “just be careful where you step.”

“You can also cover me; I’m going for those stairs over there.”  Travis said, nudging Phil and pointing with his gun.

His partner muttered something, giving a nod in reply, or Travis took it as that.  He took off for the set of stairs, not turning to see if anyone is actually covering.  He wasn’t sure he needed someone to do that for him.  After all if the place was booby trapped there wasn’t much someone could do if Travis stupidly walked into the aim of one.  He made his way to the stairs, hurrying past someone men who were shifting about some of the left over equipment. 

Travis gave them a sign to keep doing what they were doing, only really signaling two to actually cover him as he went up the stairs.  He started up the stairs quickly, cringing a bit as he hears someone most likely set off another trap, or maybe they were more of distractions.  Travis couldn’t really care, three different sets of gun fire going off, his adrenaline was pumping. 

He neared the top of the stairs, when a bullet clattered off the wall to his right.  Instinct made him duck, only to pop right up to just see if there was something there.  Another shot, this time on the stairwell handle, Travis immediately dove to the left.  Inched up the stairs, crouched and praying that he would see what or who was firing at him.  He carefully worked his way to the top, cringing away as a bullet bounced of the metal of the floor to his left.

A chuckle came echoed a bit from in front of him.  Travis growled, he could make out figures in the little light there was, however none them really looked like they could be a person.  The chuckling didn’t stop.  “My aim isn’t limited to knives, Detective.  Don’t make me shoot you.”

Without thinking too much Travis stood and shot a bit into the shadows.  The detective wasn’t sure he hit anything, seeing as how Wes wasn’t standing in the most convenient lighting in the whole building.   Travis worked his way up to the top step, gun at the ready.

“Come out with your hands up Wes, it will make all this a whole lot easier.”  Travis said firmly.

“When have I ever been easy?”  Wes’ voice said from the shadow, in the annoying manner that made Travis know for a fact the man was smirking.

A tense air sat on them, the gunfire, jazz, and then general chaos filling the warehouse around them where just background noise.  Travis is waiting for Wes to make a move, and he probably could figure Wes was going to wait till he felt the time was right.   It was just the annoying waiting game, trying to see if someone was going to slip up first.

To Travis’ luck, it was Wes.  He fired his gun off at the stairs again, the flash from his gun, just enough to, for the most part, locate Wes.  Ignoring the sounds of Phil uttering profanities that could make anyone’s ears ring, Travis fired off a shot in return.  He took the grunt and the sound of some stumbling steps as a sign that he hit something.  Travis moved in when Wes’ figure caught just the right amount of light for Travis to know exactly where he was.

“Never, but I took a shot,” Travis said with a wide grin.

“Son of a—”

“You okay Phil?”  Travis asked, closing in on Wes, who was shifting from staring at his hand to looking at Travis in shock. 

“You shot me!”  Wes’ said in a slightly shocked voice, Travis just shrugged.

“Peachy,” Phil snapped in reply, hurrying up the steps.  “You okay?”  Travis just nodded in reply.  “You got this.”  Again Travis nodded, not once taking his eyes off the killer in front of him.  “I’ll look for William.”

“Third door on the right once you enter the hallway.”  Wes hissed, clutching his shoulder and biting back curses.  Neither Phil nor Travis moved.  “I’m not going to gain much by lying now.”  Wes stated in the slightly high and mighty way Travis felt most lawyers did when they were pissed about something.

Phil seemed to slowly take the words and make his way towards the rooms of the second level.  Travis kept his gun trained on Wes who seemed to be in the middle of muttering cursing and applying pressure to his wound.  The killer grunted in pain, his breaths sharp with it, but he was still fixed in the standoff with Travis.

Travis took some careful steps towards Wes.  His eyes adjusted to the little amount of light, and he could see Wes’ body was tense and coiled.  His hand gripping the wound on his shoulder, that Travis was going to be forever proud of, like he was going to tear it off.  The gun was still tight in the other’s hand, Travis found himself eyeing it carefully.  Wes seemed to take notice of that.  His grip on the handle tightened, and he shifted his weight like he was going to take a step back. 

“Drop it.”  Travis commanded, watching as Wes seemed to contemplate it with each passing moment.   “I said drop it.”  Travis repeated, tightening his stance.

The gun clattered on the metal floor as Wes just dropped it with a heavy breath.   Wes kicked it a bit towards Travis, who shooed it away with his foot.  His body seemed to relax, and for a moment he looked more like a victim than an actual criminal.  Travis doesn’t buy into it too much, even if the man was wounded and no doubt had a burning pain in his shoulder, he was still a more than wanted man.   Wes backed away, Travis matching every step of his, till Wes’ back hit the wall.

A few more officers has made their way to the second level, shuffling past them as Travis waved them on to find Phil.  It was probably stupid of him to feel like he could take on 72 Degrees alone, seeing as how Wes had swept him off his feet and tied him to a chair before.  Travis had honestly expected more of a fight, hell more of a chase than what he got.  Not that he was going to complain, but it seemed slightly easy for him to corner Wes.  The man was being a bit too cooperative for him to be comfortable as well.

“I thought you would have put up more of a fight.”  Travis said slightly allowing the disappointment seep into his voice. 

Wes chuckled a bit at the comment.  “Be careful what you wish for.”

Travis’ eyes managed to notice the flash in the light, barely weaving out of the way as Wes suddenly charged at him.  The knife was in the hand he had held the gun in, and he swung a bit wildly due to his shoulder.  Wes used the momentum of his body to plow into Travis, causing him to lose his balance. 

The two toppled to the floor, Wes managing to knock Travis’ gun out of his hand before he rolled off.  Travis hardly had time to catch the other’s wrist as he attempted to thrust the knife down at Travis.  The darker man swung, his fist landing on Wes’ cheek perfectly, sent the man into some empty boxes.  He sprang up to his feet; attempt to reach for his gun when he was slammed into the railings by a bit of a dazed Wes. 

The blonde swung as well, and he managed to get Travis’ jaw.  Travis groaned, attempting to swing but Wes blocked and nailed him a bit with his elbow.   Wes grabbed onto him tightly, keeping a strong hold on the detective’s collar.  Travis went for the only shot he had, which was simply pushing at Wes’ shoulder.  It did the trick.  Wes’ hold loosened, and he eventually rolled off.

A shot rang out and Travis watched as Wes cringed as he came to his feet.  He sprinted off after that.  “LAPD, Freeze!”  Kate shouted as she sprinted after him.

Amy came to settle beside Travis, carefully looking him over.  “You okay?”

“I’ve had worse,” Travis said with a goofy grin.  “Help me up, I want to handcuff the bastard.”

Amy helped him to his feet and handed him his gun and they hurried after Kate.  As they rounded the corner the jazz stopped, Kate was picking herself up from the floor.  Travis looked down the hallway of the level to see Wes give him a salute with a bag on his good shoulder before he started taking off again down a turn.  Amy went after him, practically yelling into the radio that 72 Degrees was on the move, specifically heading towards the north side of the warehouse.  Everyone was on a red alert now.

The police practically tore the place a part looking for him before Travis got a text.  _You can stop trying to get me; I’m already gone in the wind._   Travis growled and threw his phone harshly at the floor.  The only good thing that came out of the raid seemed to be some blood from Wes and William was in custody now.

 


	13. Epilogue

“ _The case of Julia Lakeson has been officially closed by the LAPD, late last week._ ”  The newscaster stated at the camera.  Travis rolled his eyes a bit and glanced at his watch.  _“The police have William Johnson, Julia’s boyfriend, in custody.  Friday, police rescued him from his capture 72 Degrees, he’s currently being treated for the injuries he received.  Johnson confessed to killing her and coping the 72 Degrees Killer MO.”_

“Crazy isn’t it?”  A voice said behind Travis, causing him to turn.  He knew the voice was talking to him; he was the only one in the waiting area.  A young man was the source of the voice.  Dressed in what looked like a reasonably priced suit.  The man smiled at him before sticking a hand in one of his pockets.  When Travis didn’t reply to him, the man asked, “Detective Marks?”

Travis smiled and stood, “That’s me.”

“Thomas Kinley, I’m Ms. MacFarland’s associate,” The man, or Thomas, said holding out his hand for Travis to shake it.  The detective took it with a small grin.  “Sorry to keep you waiting, she was in a meeting.”

“Don’t worry, I understand.”  Travis said putting a hand in his jackets pocket.  His other hand tightly gripping the folder in his hand.

“This way,” Thomas said awkwardly.

Travis chuckled to himself, wondering if just the fact that he was a detective was making the younger man squirrely.  He also seemed a bit new to the whole works at the firm, and Travis would admit he would be a little freaked out if he was suddenly dealing with a cop.  Travis didn’t say anything to him as they walked to the office.  Thomas swerved into an office with the name _Alexandria MacFarland, Senior Partner_ on the door.  Travis followed after him, hanging in the doorway waiting to be greeted but the owner of the office.

The owner was a smallish woman with dark brown hair that was pulled back into a bun; he couldn’t tell how long it was.  Her clothes were modest, but Travis wasn’t exactly expecting an over the top sexy female lawyer, unlike TV.  She turned to look at Travis, her smile meeting her blue eyes as he came out from behind her desk.

“Thank you Thomas,” She said in a sweet tone.  The associate took that as a sign to leave and scurried out of the room.  “You must be Detective Travis Marks, I’m Alexandria MacFarland, but you can call me Alex.”  She held out her hand for Travis to shake, which Travis did.  “Please have a seat,” Alex said as she shut the door to her office.  “Can I ask why you’re here to see me?”

Travis took a seat as Alex rounded her desk.  “It’s about your husband.”

“Detective, I’m engaged not married.”  Alex said with a bit of a grin, almost like she knew Travis was flirting with her or something.

Travis snorted a bit at the comment.  He would flirt with her if they were somewhere else, under different circumstances, and he knew she wasn’t so far out of league.  Still he had a feeling she was use to people flirting with her, she clearly knew all the possible lines.

He smiled at her for a moment before it drained away slightly.  “I probably should have said ex-husband.”  He replied watching her closely. 

“This is about Wesley,” She said, her whole body seemed to visibly sadden a bit at the name.  “Did you find his body?”

“No...not exactly.”  Travis said gently.  He could tell she didn’t know at all, especially if she was still wondering if they found Wes’ body like he was dead.  He sighed a bit before he said anything.  He was about to bring down hammer on Alex’s world, even though she seemed so hopeful with what he was going to say.  “I can’t really say we found him, because Wes was the one who found us.”

“I’m sorry, but what?”  Alex asked, physically recoiling from what Travis said.   “What do you mean he found you?”

“Wesley Mitchell is alive, Alex.”  Travis said carefully.  “Trust me I should know, the man tied me to a chair.”  Travis grumbled, just loud enough for Alex to hear him, if she was paying attention. 

“But I saw him jump,” Alex sounded like her world was falling apart around her, and it probably was safe to say that it was. 

“He managed to fake it.  The dying part, not the jumping part.”

“Why would he do that?”

Travis bit his lip at the question.  He glanced down at the floor.  He wished it would be easier to tell her, but her world was already taking a hard blow now that she knew Wes was alive.  He didn’t want to completely crumble it by saying that he died so he could kill people and get away with murder.  He tapped the folder on his hand for a second.  When he looked by up at Alex, she looked desperate to know and probably on the verge of tears.

He took a deep breath before he asked, “What was Wes like before jumped?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Before he jumped, how was he acting?”  Travis repeated.

“Uh…he went off the deep end.”  Alex said slowly, looking down at her desk.  “Something went wrong on a case, and it got to him.  He went crazy about it, quit his job here, and just buried himself in what went wrong, or something.  I don’t know.”  Alex took a shuttering breath before she looked up.  “He disappeared for days, he obsessed over it.  He wasn’t my Wes anymore, so I filed for divorce.  I think that just made him spiral down more.”

Travis didn’t say anything for a while, running his hand over the spine of the folder in his hand.  Alex’s story allowed him to understand where Wes’ weird sense of justice came from.  Take out one bad guy, why not take out more, especially if one was good at it. 

“Does the name Astrid Palmer mean anything?”

Alex swallowed a bit and wiped her eyes.  “She’s Wes’ youngest cousin.  The two of them would do anything for each other without asking too many questions.”  Alex said steadily, as she regrouped herself.  “Why do you ask?”

That kind of explained the phone, and it was probably safe to say that Astrid didn’t know about what Wes did. 

“No reason, just the name came up when we were looking into Wes.”  Travis said.  Alex looked at him curiously.  Travis stood with a bit of smile.  “Well that’s all I had to ask you, here.”  Travis held out the folder in his hand.  It was Wes’ file, everything on the murders he committed, and every crime that they could think he possibly did.

“What is this?”  Alex asked as she carefully took from him and set it on her desk.

“It’s a copy of Wes’ file.”  Travis answered, putting his hands in his pockets.  “I figured you should know what he’s been up too before the evening news tells you.”  With that he left her office.

\----  ----  ----

The evening news was giving Travis a headache.  Everywhere he turned people were talking about 72 Degrees and his face.  Travis almost wished that Captain Sutton had released the information when he was on vacation or something, so he could at least listen to some music on the radio.  Everyone was buzzing about Wes, and the swarms of news reporters had already started.  They corned the poor secretary to see if they knew anything different.

Phil had gotten feed up with it all and left around five, which wasn’t his brightest plan.  Travis stuck around till around seven; figuring the hive outside was calming down for the night.  He also knew the back way to the parking lot, and managed to get it his bike without too much of a fuss.   Only a crew from Channel 5 demanded to know what he had to say about everything.  Travis waved them off and sharply told them he had nothing to say.

His ride home was uneventful, which he took for granted, seeing as how his last week had been crazy as hell.  He parked his bike, and ran into a neighbor who was going out for an evening.  They waved and commented on a job well done.   Travis gave them a smile before he strolled up to his apartment.

Singling out his front door key, he wanted nothing more to sit down and have a cold beer.   There hadn’t been much celebration after Wes managed to get away, and for good reason.  It didn’t matter that now they had everything to pretty much link him to every murder, they only thing Wes seemed to get away with was a computer of some kind.  Travis opened his door and wiggled out of his jacket.  He slid his badge of his belt and put his keys in a bowl by the front door. 

Tossing his jacket on the couch, he flicked on the kitchen light and swung into the cold air of his fridge.  He fished out a beer, and contemplated getting something delivered so he won’t have to eat something that was questionable.  

“So I noticed you told Alex,” A voice suddenly startled him.  Travis whipped around wildly to see who was there.  He noticed a window was open, he cursed.  It wasn’t much longer till his eyes found Wes lingering in the shadows.  He slammed the beer bottle down on the counter reaching for his gun that was still on his belt.  “She wasn’t too happy about everything.”

“What are you doing here?”  Travis snapped, his whole body going tense, it never failed when he wanted to relax.

“Put that away Travis, I’m not here to hurt you.”  Wes said wondering into the light a bit more before plopped down in a chair.  “It’s more of a social visit.”

“You came through the window, how does that make this social.”

“It doesn’t, I wanted to update you on my shoulder.”  Wes said sarcastically, he even dramatically rolled his eyes.

“Oh how is that feeling?”  Travis snapped, wondering where in the world this banter was coming from.

“Like you shot it.”  Wes hissed rubbing it absently. 

He settled for a bit, Travis’ gun still trained on him.  The detective really hated how cool the other could be when he was in the line of fire.    Travis watched was Wes picked at some lint on his shirt, flicking it away.

“Why are you here?”  Travis demanded, keeping his aim on a fatal shot to the chest as Wes rose.

“I’m getting you a promotion.”  Wes said with a grin.  He shoved a hand in his jean pockets and shrugged a bit.  For a moment Wes looked like an over grown child.

“What does that mean?”

“I’m going national.”  Wes said taking a step towards him, a sly grin on his face.  “I can’t exactly work in LA anymore very well now, can I?  My face and name is floating around all over the news.”  Travis tensed at Wes kept stepping closer, the man only stopped when Travis gun meet his chest.  “So I’d figure I’d take a trip, cross country.  Do what I do, stump the local authorities.  Maybe even get the FBI interested.”

“Why,” Travis asked simply, it’s all he could managed.

“Because I can.”  Wes said with a shrug and a sick grin.  “This is all getting too easy, too boring.   It all stopped being about revenge a long time ago.  I want something new and challenging.  Becoming one of the FBI’s most wanted fits the bill.”

“How exactly does that get me a promotion?”

“They’re going to want an expert, Detective Marks.”  Wes said, his voice dipping a bit of a seductive tone.  “I’ve been on their radar before, not enough to get them to come, no, I’m too infrequent for that.  However, I know they know about you.  I made sure of it.”

Travis glared at the man.  Wes rolled his eyes and carefully brought a hand up to shove Travis’ gun away.  The detective took two steps back and aimed his gun again.  Again a roll of the eyes, only this time there was a chuckle.  Wes held up his hands and eased back a bit.

He eased towards the open window, Travis carefully following after him.  Eventually the man dropped his hands, but kept his study steps from towards the open window.  “You can end it all right here,” Wes said leaning against the sill of the window.  “Or you could take the job, I know the FBI will offer up and chase me around the country.  Your choice.  What will it be?”

Travis fired off a shot.  In the loud flash and bang, Wes managed to drop down onto the fire escape platform by the window. 

Wes rolled to his feet and smiled, looking back at Travis as he hurried to the window.  “Come on Travis, chase me.”

The darker man fired off a shot that sparked on the metal.  He had feeling someone would call the cops but he didn’t care.  He cursed Wes for always managing to ruin his day.  “Man I hate the FBI,” Travis muttered to himself as he slammed the window shut. 

He got a call from them two weeks later, and Travis took the job.

 


End file.
